Antonio Conte said that he left Andrea Pirlo and Sebastian Giovinco out of his squad of 30 players was because they decided to play in the MLS.

Pirlo was a surprise omission, having been convinced by Conte to reassess his plan to retire after the 2014 World Cup.

Pirlo played a part in Italy qualifying for Euro 2016, but he has not featured since playing in the 1-0 win over Malta last September.

"When you make a certain choice and go to play in certain leagues, you do so taking it into account that they could pay the consequences from a footballing viewpoint," Conte said at a news conference on Tuesday.

"I called him and we've spoken about it. I needed to discuss it with him and we've had people out there for a week to take a look at him and Giovinco. We've made technical choices and nothing has been done just at random."

Pirlo was left out, even though Claudio Marchisio and Marco Verratti have both been ruled out injured.