Duisburg: Italy defender Alessandro Nesta will miss Friday's World Cup quarter-final match against Ukraine with a right thigh injury.
Nesa, bothered by the muscle problem for several months, aggravated the injury in Italy's 2-0 win over Czech Republic
in the first round and was sidelined for the 1-0 win over Australia in the second round.
"It's a lot better and I'm very confident I'll play again soon, but not for this game," Nesta said on Wednesday after a new round of medical exams. "I'll do eveything I can to play the (following) game."
Marco Materazzi replaced Nesta against Australia but picked up a red card after 50 minutes and will also miss the
Ukraine game. That leaves the starting job to inexperienced Andrea Barzagli, who plays for Palermo.
"Our bench players have done very well at this World Cup when they've come in, they've given a big contribution," Nesta
said, recallng Materazzi's goal against the Czech Republic.
"Barzagli is young but he's a real solid guy," Nesta added. "The main thing about him though is that he's very strong physically and I think that's going to help him a lot in the next game."
Barzagli and fellow central defender Fabio Cannavaro will have the job of containing Ukraine's standout forward Andriy Shevchenko.
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