FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template
Italy look set to lose defender Moreno Torricelli for the World Cup finals, as the Juventus star has failed to recover from a foot injury.
Italy coach Cesare Maldini announced on Sunday night: “Torricelli will undergo a magnetic resonance scan tomorrow. His foot is still giving him pain and I’m a bit worried about it. His last training session was in Sweden (last week) and then he seemed to be alright.”
Torricelli took a knock during a training match before leaving for Sweden and clot of blood which formed underneath his foot has not been re-absorbed.
“Now it’s causing him trouble and it’s painful,” said the coach. “But obviously I hope he can pull through.” Maldini wouldn’t hear of replacing of the talented defender, who has been linked with a move to the English Premiership, saying instead that he would probably stick by the squad who are here already. His curious decision means that Parma striker Enrico Chiesa, brought to France as the 23rd man in case Juventus ace Alessandro Del Piero fails to recover from a thigh injury, would replace Torricelli numerically. Italy are increasingly suffering from a ‘Juventus syndrome’ which has seen them lose star player after star player through injury, following a gruelling season in Italy and Europe for the Serie A champions. Italy’s best defender, libero Ciro Ferrara, broke his leg in February, goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi tore a calf muscle little more than a week ago, Del Piero is still unfit and now Torricelli risks missing the party.