Tuesday, June 3 2008 -- Italy have been rocked with the bad news that their captain and key central defender Fabio Cannavaro has been ruled out of the Euro 200 finals after suffering a huge knock to his ankles in the aftermath of a clash with Juventus hard man Giorgio Chiellini during Italy's training session.

The news comes as a huge blow to an Italian squad brimming with optimism and class and are the topmost favourites to win the Euro 2008 finals. The Real Madrid defender was also the captain of the Azzurri side and coach Italy coach Roberto Donadoni shall now have to find a replacement for him.

Scans on his ankles demonstrated that Fabio Cannavaro shall have to undergo a surgery and this confirms that he is out of the gala event in Austria and Switzerland this month. The former World Player of the Year said this to the journalists:

"I'm going home."

Now who shall be handed the cpatain's armband for ethe competition? It has to be either Gianluigi Buffon or his Juventus team mate Alessandro Del Piero.