Domenico Berardi will have to wait to make his Italy debut after the Sassuolo forward was ruled out for the Euro 2016 qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Norway with a muscle injury.

Berardi was called up for the first time by Azzurri coach Antonio Conte but the 21-year-old picked up the injury prior to Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Empoli and will not feature.

“Unfortunately he’s had a problem,” Conte told the Italian media.

“He’s had tests and it’s not serious but the player was feeling a lot of pain, which worried him and he preferred to rest and recover. I understand that, because he’s just coming back from an injury, so he will return home.

“I’m sorry, but I hope he can do well. I will not call up another player to replace him.”

Berardi scored 15 goals and set up 10 more to help Sassuolo finish 12th in the Serie A standings last season.

The Azzurri are also without midfielder Daniele De Rossi, who must serve a two-match ban.

Italy are two points clear at the top of Group H heading into their final two qualifiers.

The Azzurri take on Azerbaijan in Baku on Saturday knowing that a win would see them secure direct qualification for next year’s tournament in France.

Italy end their qualifying campaign against Norway three days later at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.

“We have two match balls,” Conte said.

“But we cannot wait for the last one. We must try to immediately secure qualification in Azerbaijan. They are a good side and held Croatia and Norway to draws so we have to make it clear that it will not be easy.

“They will be playing their first match in a new stadium with 60,000 people and hence, all the ingredients are there for this game to be a banana skin for us.

“We need to be careful, work hard and try to get the maximum.”