Roma fullback Christian Panucci says his omission from Italy's World Cup plans is a joke.
Panucci has been frozen out of the international scene ever since Marcello Lippi was handed the Italy job after Euro 2004.
Despite arguably being Italy's best right-back option, Lippi has left him out following an altercation between the pair during their time together at Inter.
"Italy is one of the few countries in the world where a player can be left out because he isn't liked," he told Italia 1 on Wednesday.
Although Panucci maintains that he is a better player than Palermo's Cristian Zaccardo, who Lippi has continually opted for, he's archived his Azzurri ambitions.
"Is Zaccardo better than me? I don't really think so," he commented. "Nevertheless, I'm not wasting my time thinking about it. I'd rather just forget about it."
Panucci has been frozen out of the international scene ever since Marcello Lippi was handed the Italy job after Euro 2004.
Despite arguably being Italy's best right-back option, Lippi has left him out following an altercation between the pair during their time together at Inter.
"Italy is one of the few countries in the world where a player can be left out because he isn't liked," he told Italia 1 on Wednesday.
Although Panucci maintains that he is a better player than Palermo's Cristian Zaccardo, who Lippi has continually opted for, he's archived his Azzurri ambitions.
"Is Zaccardo better than me? I don't really think so," he commented. "Nevertheless, I'm not wasting my time thinking about it. I'd rather just forget about it."
