Football: Ravanelli and Baggio miss out for Italy

Fabrizio Ravanelli and Roberto Baggio have been left out of Italy's squad for the Tournoi de France. Three new faces emerged, while striker Alessandro Del Piero returns from injury.

The coach, Cesare Maldini, named a squad of 23 for the tournament, which also involves Brazil, France and England, and starts on Tuesday.

Ravanelli, currently with relegated Middlesbrough but expected to be moving on shortly, is recovering from the injuries that afflicted his last few matches of the domestic season, and had been doubtful.

Del Piero had been out of the squad since February due to a thigh injury but Maldini was impressed by his form for Juventus in the European Cup final on Wednesday.

Baggio suffered a groin strain in a training match on Thursday. His Milan midfield team-mate, Stefano Eranio, is also injured.

In their place, Maldini summoned three new faces to join his familiar cast of stalwarts. Demetrio Albertini and Alessandro Costacurta will be suspended for Italy's next World Cup qualifier against Georgia and Maldini wanted to test possible alternatives.

The midfielder Giampiero Maini, earned a his first call-up, the first for a Vicenza player since Paolo Rossi 18 years ago.

An even bigger surprise was the Piacenza midfielder, Eusebio Di Francesco, whose side must beat Perugia tomorrow to have any chance of avoiding relegation from Serie A but who is set to join Roma next season.

The third newcomer is the Bologna defender, Stefano Torrisi, who, like Maini, has played for Italy only at youth level.

Internazionale's Gianluca Pagliuca returns as second-choice goalkeeper, replacing Fiorentina's Francesco Toldo. Pagliuca has 30 caps but has not played for Italy for two years.

He played in the 1994 World Cup final against Brazil after earlier becoming the first goalkeeper to be sent off in the final stages of the tournament in a match against Norway.

Christian Vieri joins his club-mate, Del Piero, and Chelsea's Gianfranco Zola in attack. Parma's Enrico Chiesa, once a natural first choice for Italy, was included as was Filippo Inzaghi, top scorer in Serie A this season at Atalanta and reported to be the subject of a transfer bid by Atletico Madrid.

ITALY SQUAD (Tournoi de France, begins Tuesday): Goalkeepers: Peruzzi (Juventus), Pagliuca (Internazionale). Defenders: Ferrara (Juventus), Costacurta (Milan), Cannavaro (Parma), Maldini (Milan), Benarrivo (Parma), Panucci (Real Madrid), Nesta (Lazio), Torrisi (Bologna). Midfielders: Di Livio (Juventus), Di Matteo (Chelsea), Albertini (Milan), Baggio (Parma), Fuser (Lazio), Maini (Vicenza), Di Francesco (Piacenza). Forwards: Vieri (Juventus), Inzaghi (Atalanta), Zola (Chelsea), Casiraghi (Lazio), Del Piero (Juventus), Chiesa (Parma).