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The Italian national team and defender will not play for at least a month due to an injury to his left hand finger, it was revealed after tests performed on Monday.
The "Milan" star suffered the injury in Italy's match against Slovenia on Saturday, which the Italians won 1-0 and thus secured a ticket to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
In a press release, Milan club stated that after detailed examinations, it was revealed that A.Nesta will have to undergo surgery on his injured finger and he will not play for at least a month.
In the final qualification match for the 2006 World Cup against Moldova, Marco Materazzi of another Milan club, "Inter", will most likely replace A.Nesta in the Italian national team. Also, Italy will definitely be without the defenders Gennaro Gattuso and Francesco Totti, who will be unable to play due to disqualifications. However, it is believed that national team coach M.Lippi will allow several usual substitutes to take the field in these non-decisive matches.
Due to this injury, A.Nesta will miss two UEFA Champions League matches against "PSV" Eindhoven and five "Serie A" matches: against "Cagliari", "Palermo", "Empoli", Turin's "Juventus", and "Udinese".
