Roma veteran Christian Panucci believes teammate Alberto Aquilani can be the star of Euro2008 for Italy.

"I hope that Aquilani will be the surprise of the competition," he told the Corriere dello Sport.

"He has had a troubled season from injury, but the Coach selected him because he believes Alberto can be our secret weapon.

"I like him a lot, even if we have argued. It was an isolated incident that lasted 20 minutes.

"We sorted it out fine and we get along well. I always give him advice and he often asks me things."