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Pazzini picked for Italy friendlies

Pazzini, who has scored seven goals for Sampdoria in Serie A so far this season, got the last of his three caps in June's 3-0 win over Northern Ireland in a friendly.

But Lippi continued to ignore calls to bring back Pazzini's team mate Antonio Cassano, a reformed rebel who was regularly producing match-winning performances before a recent lull.

Gaetano D'Agostino is not included after limping off in Udinese's 1-0 defeat by Fiorentina on Sunday, while his team mate Simone Pepe misses out, as do Napoli forward Fabio Quagliarella and Bayern Munich's Luca Toni.

Davide Santon has dropped to the Under-21 squad after his failure to make Inter Milan's starting lineup of late.