Casiraghi names U-21 squad

Italy Under-21 coach Pierluigi Casiraghi has named a strong 21-man squad for next Saturday’s friendly against England as the Azzurrini continue to build towards this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Empoli defender Andrea Raggi is the only new face in the squad for the first fixture at the new Wembley Stadium in London on March 24.

The 22-year-old will look to impress Casiraghi having already made 25 Serie A appearances for surprise package Empoli this season. "It will be a great game both because of the importance of Wembley and because we will face England again in the finals," said Casiraghi. "It will be a very good experience for us."

The squad is scheduled to meet up on Tuesday evening at La Borghesiana in Rome and will leave for England on March 22.

All 60,000 tickets available for the friendly were sold out almost immediately.

Italy will play in this summer's European Championships in the Netherlands between June 10 to 23. The five-time European champions will face England, Serbia and the Czech Republic in Group B.


Italy squad
Goalkeepers: Gianluca Curci (Roma), Emiliano Viviano (Brescia).

Defenders: Marco Andreolli (Inter), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Andrea Coda (Udinese), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Andrea Mantovani (Chievo), Alessandro Potenza (Fiorentina), Andrea Raggi (Empoli).

Midfielders: Raffaele De Martino (Udinese), Andrea Lazzari (Piacenza), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Antonio Nocerino (Piacenza), Simone Padoin (Vicenza), Gabriele Paonessa (Vicenza), Alessandro Rosina (Torino).

Forwards: Arturo Lupoli (Derby County), Raffaele Palladino (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Fiorentina), Graziano Pelle (Cesena), Giuseppe Rossi (Parma).


England manager Stuart Pearce will only lead the team at the Finals in the summer as he has club duty with Manchester City. His assistant Nigel Pearson named the squad for the friendly and will be caretaker manager against the Azzurrini.

England squad
Goalkeepers: Ben Alnwick (Tottenham), Lee Camp (Queen's Park Rangers), Joe Hart (Manchester City).

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Wigan), Gary Cahill (Aston Villa), Curtis Davies (West Brom), Anton Ferdinand (West Ham), Justin Hoyte (Arsenal), Liam Rosenior (Fulham), Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough), Steven Taylor (Newcastle).

Midfielders: David Bentley (Blackburn), Lee Cattermole (Middlesbrough), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), James Milner (Newcastle), Nigel Reo-Coker (West Ham), Kieran Richardson (Manchester United), Wayne Routledge (Fulham).

Forwards: Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Matt Derbyshire (Blackburn), Leroy Lita (Reading), David Nugent (Preston North End), Ashley Young (Aston Villa).