Euro 2008: Montolivo cut from squad

| Thu, 05/29/2008 - 03:16

Fiorentina midfielder Riccardo Montolivo was cut from Italy's Euro 2008 squad on Wednesday, the UEFA deadline for handing over the 23-man list.

The 23-year-old, who picked up his only Italy cap in a friendly against South Africa in September, was always the prime candidate to be axed from the initial squad.

The big surprise in the list announced last week was Sampdoria's former Roma and Real Madrid forward Antonio Cassano.

The inclusion of the 'bad boy' of Italian soccer confounded the many pundits who said he blew his chances of joining the World Cup holders with a blast-from-the-past outburst against a ref three months ago.

But Cassano, 25, has been back to his twinkling best this season and put on an eye-catching display in the last match of the season, a 3-3 draw against Juventus in which he scored one goal and set up another after a trademark ball-juggling feint.

Italy coach Roberto Donadoni, a sublime dribbler in his time for AC Milan and Italy, has said he is looking to Cassano to ''provide the unexpected'' against Italy's tough group opponents France, Netherlands and Romania.

Juventus icon Alessandro Del Piero, 33, forced his way into the squad by claiming his first Serie A marksmen's trophy but another veteran, AC Milan goal-getter Filippo Inzaghi, lost out.

The rest of the squad was largely as expected.

Italy officials gave Donadoni a vote of confidence going into the Switzerland-Austria tournament (June 7-29) by extending his contract, after months of talks, until June 2010.

Italy face Belgium in a friendly in Florence on Friday before travelling to their tournament base at Baden south of Vienna next week.

Here is the 23-man squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Marco Amelia (Livorno), Morgan De Sanctis (Sevilla).

Defenders: Cristian Panucci (AS Roma), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan), Fabio Grosso (Olympique Lyon), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus).

Midfielders: Rino Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo, Massimo Ambrosini (AC Milan), Daniele De Rossi, Simone Perrotta, Alberto Aquilani (AS Roma), Mauro German Camoranesi (Juventus).

Forwards: Luca Toni (Bayern Monaco), Marco Borriello (Genoa), Antonio Di Natale, Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria).

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