Italy face Ukraine in the second quarter-final of the World Cup Finals in Hamburg on Friday, with the winner to face Germany in the Semi-finals.

Ukraine head coach Oleg Blokhin will have his two centre-backs Andriy Rusol and Vyacheslav Sviderskyi back, who return after being suspended for their side’s second round match against Switzerland.

Italy defender Andrea Barzagli comes into the side to replace Alessandro Nesta who is still suffering with a groin strain, with Marco Materazzi suspended for the crunch quarter-final.

AS Roma captain Francesco Tott, who scored the penalty to take Italy into the quarter-finals, will replace Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero, with Mauro Camoranesi stepping in for Alberto Gilardino, who starts the match on the bench.

Ukraine head coach Oleg Blokhin has made three changes, with Artem Milevskiy coming in up front for the injured Andriy Voronin.

Vladislav Vashchuk and Andriy Vorobey are left out of the starting line-up, with Viacheslav Sviderskiy and Andriy Rusol both replacing them.

Italy and Ukraine have faced each other just three times, with Italy winning twice a decade ago during qualification for the 1996 European championships in Portugal, while in their latest meeting the teams played out a 0-0 draw in a friendly international match in the lead up to the World Cup Finals in Switzerland.

Most people will be expecting that the experience of the Italians will see them progress through to the semi-finals to meet either Germany, however with the many off-field issues currently overwhelming the Italian football world, and with their current suspensions and injuries, they will have to be on top of their game to beat Ukraine, who had an excellent record in qualifying, despite their stuttering start to the World Cup.

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