Italy U21 assistant boss Gianfranco Zola admits they failed to make the most of Manchester United striker Giuseppe Rossi after elimination from the European Championships last night.

"Giuseppe is an important player, but at the start so was Palladino, so we thought it was right to keep faith with Raffaele," said Zola. "Obviously with hindsight you can say many things, but at the time we thought that was the right thing to do."

The decision to give Rossi only 16 minutes against Serbia and the second half in the 2-2 draw with England caused controversy and confusion in the Italian media.