Mario Balotelli has been granted an injury reprieve, but Andrea Barzagli is all but ruled out of Euro 2012 for the Azzurri.
Mario Balotelli has been granted an injury reprieve, but Andrea Barzagli is all but ruled out of Euro 2012 for the Azzurri.
Manchester City forward Balotelli pulled out of Italy’s afternoon training session on Monday complaining to chief medic Enrico Castellacci of tightness in his right thigh.
However, after examination, the Italy medics have confirmed that the incident was down to fatigue and that Balotelli did not suffer any damage.
There were also initial fears that the player had instead hurt his right knee, a joint he has previously injured, but this was also ruled out.
Balotelli is expected to be reinstated to full training from tomorrow morning.
However, international colleague Barzagli is almost certainly out of the competition as Castellacci confirmed that the Juventus” data-scaytid=”15″>Juventus man suffered a first degree calf strain.
Likely to keep the defender out for up to 20 days, Cesare Prandelli has until 24 hours before the team’s first match with Spain on Sunday to call up a replacement.
Andrea Ranocchia is believed to be in prime contention, having been in the 25-man squad Prandelli named before cutting it to 23 last week.