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On Monday, the head coach of the Italian national team Roberto Donadoni announced the list of 23 players who will represent the team in the qualifying matches for the 2008 European Championship against the Faroe Islands and Lithuania next week. As previously stated, striker Luca Toni is not included in the national team - the "Fiorentina" player who has scored 16 goals this season had to undergo surgery. The Italian national team composition also does not include several players who played in the first matches of the Lithuania and Italy national teams on September 2, when the game ended unexpectedly in a 1-1 draw: defenders Fabio Grosso, Bruno Marchionni, forwards Davide di Michele and Alberto Gilardino are not in the squad. In the matches in Kaunas, we will see four winners of this year's Champions League: Massimo Oddo, Massimo Ambrosini, Andrea Pirlo, and Gennaro Gattuso. Three of them, except M. Ambrosini, together with ten other players in the squad, became world champions last year. However, R. Donadoni did not invite defender Alessandro Nesta. Reports in the Italian media suggested that the "Milan" defensive pillar requested rest. The most productive player of the Italian championship "Roma" captain Francesco Totti continues to rest from the national team. He is set to be replaced in the squad by 20-goal scorer Cristiano Lucarelli from "Livorno." Surprisingly, "Fiorentina" defender Alessandro Gamberini was called up to the national team, while Max Tonetto and Fabio Quagliarella retained their spots after being called up for the match against Scotland. The Italian national team will face the Faroe Islands on June 2 in an away match in the European Championship qualifying matches, and then on June 6 with Lithuania. Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon ("Juventus"), Marco Amelia ("Livorno"), Christian Abbiati ("Torino"); Defenders: Max Tonetto ("Roma"), Massimo Oddo ("Milan"), Gianluca Zambrotta ("Barcelona"), Andrea Barzagli ("Palermo"), Marco Materazzi ("Inter"), Fabio Cannavaro ("Real"), Alessandro Gamberini ("Fiorentina"), Manuel Pasqual ("Fiorentina"); Midfielders: Massimo Ambrosini ("Milan"), Daniele De Rossi ("Roma"), Gennaro Gattuso ("Milan"), Andrea Pirlo ("Milan"), Simone Perrotta ("Roma"), Aimo Diana ("Palermo"); Forwards: Fabio Quagliarella ("Sampdoria"), Tommaso Rocchi ("Lazio"), Alessandro Del Piero ("Juventus"), Antonio Di Natale ("Udinese"), Filippo Inzaghi ("Milan"), Cristiano Lucarelli ("Livorno")
