Milan: Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has confirmed that Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano and Antonio Di Natale are all likely to make his squad for Euro 2012, but ruled out call-ups for experienced attackers Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti.
The national team boss is expected to announce a provisional 30-man squad for this summer's tournament on Sunday, before eventually trimming his roster down to 23 players for the finals. And Prandelli has made it clear that there will not be any unexpected names.
"There will not be any surprises in the squad. Totti and Del Piero? Like I've said before, I'll only consider them in an emergency. I prefer to give younger players such as Roma's Fabio Borini a chance," Prandelli stated to Corriere della Sera.
"Cassanohas shown that he loves the national shirt and he did all that he could to recover full fitness as soon as possible. He put pressure on the medics so that he could return to give us a helping hand.
"Balotelli can't afford to make any more mistakes, but I'm confident that he won't. We need to give players with talent an extra chance and there's no doubt that he's a special talent.
"I disagree with anyone who argues that Toto Di Natale doesn't deserve to be in the squad. He has scored almost 100 goals in three years and can be very helpful for us."
Italy are drawn with Spain, Republic of Ireland and Croatia in Group C at Euro 2012.
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