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Match with a strong opponent - Spain - Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni sees it as a regular opportunity to test the reserve of the national team.
Trapattoni is able to surprise the opponent - by testing the candidates for the national team trip to Portugal, he practically did not leave a chance for specialists to guess what his team composition would be. In the match against Portugal, this brought success - the spot in the main "Squadra Azzurra" (Italian "squadra" means team, and "azurra" - blue) lineup could not boast of not being able to score a winning goal. Other "substitutes" did not spoil the picture either.
However, there is less and less time left until the start of the European Championship, and it is already time for Trap to make a decision on the composition and stop preparing mass reviews. The coach himself does not think so, and once again surprised by announcing the list of players invited to the match with Spain.
The match will take place on April 28 in Genoa.
The surprises began in the goalkeeper line. The No. 1 position in the Italian national team has long been "cemented" by Gianluigi Buffon. Only an injury can prevent him from traveling to Portugal. But with the second goalkeeper, the coach, it seems, is not yet completely decided. The uncertainty arises due to the not very stable performance of the goalkeeper, who recently recovered from an injury. Therefore, for the upcoming friendly matches, Trap called up Angelo Peruzzi. The decision, to put it mildly, is surprising, considering that the last time the experienced goalkeeper represented the national team was on March 31, 1999. By the way, then Italy failed to beat Belarus - 1:1. On the other hand, Peruzzi played steadily this season and was a solid goalkeeper.
Peruzzi himself stated that he understands very well - he does not have a chance to replace Buffon: "I'm very happy, but I'm not deluding myself - I can only end up in goal in extreme cases," said the former goalkeeper who is currently defending his honor.
The main event was the return to the team. Trapattoni never intended to listen to fans' suggestions to take "Uodgele" to the national team during his period with the team. The player's decision to leave football after this season forced Trap to change his position on this issue. However, Baggio is always a surprise. Where's the guarantee that he won't play another great match and instead of saying "goodbye" one more time, he will say "hello" to the team?
The five players from "Squadra Azzurra" who appeared in the match against Portugal will definitely not play against the Spaniards. These are defenders Alessandro Nesta, , midfielders Gennaro Gattuso and Mauro Camoranesi, as well as forwards Francesco Totti and . Trappatoni has a huge selection. In addition to the mentioned players, one can also remember , ... They will also not play against Spain.
The young striker in excellent form was not invited. This season, he is the third in the "Serie A" scorers' list with 18 goals. However, the coach justified his decision by saying that Gilardino should now play for the youth national team (U-21), and his time will come.
Instead, Trapattoni called up 9 players to the team who did not participate in the previous matches. In addition to Peruzzi and Baggio, also got a chance to show themselves, , and . These are the first matches for Diana in the national team lineup.
The other five players who received invitations can confidently be assigned to those who will most likely go to Portugal. These are , , and Marco Materazzi.
It should be noted that Christian Vieri is included in the lineup. The striker has recently not had regular and full practice at the club, he is not doing well in agreeing with coach Alberto Zaccheroni, however, it seems that the national team coach is not concerned about this.
Italy's national team lineup for the match against Spain:
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon ("Juventus") Angelo Peruzzi ("Lazio")
Defenders: Fabio Cannavaro ("Inter") ("Lazio") () Nicola Legrottaglie ("Juventus") Marco Materazzi ("Inter") ("Lazio") () Gianluca Zambrotta ("Juventus")
Midfielders: Massimo Ambrossini ("Milan") Aimo Diana ("Sampdoria") ("Lazio") () () ("Milan")
Forwards: Roberto Baggio () ("Lazio") Marco Di Vaio ("Juventus") Fabrizio Miccoli ("Juventus") Christian Vieri ("Inter")
