Albertini stands by Donadoni

        His former Milan teammate is under pressure already, but FIGC representative Demetrio Albertini has publicly backed Roberto Donadoni.


       “Our faith in Donadoni is total, regardless of the result against France,” stated the vice-commissioner in a Press Conference this evening.


         The Azzurri boss took over from Marcello Lippi in the summer, but so far his World Cup winning squad has managed just a 2-0 friendly defeat to Croatia and 1-1 Euro 2008 qualifier with Lithuania.


        The Italian media has already suggested that tomorrow’s crunch match with France in Paris will be decisive for their hopes of reaching the tournament and for Donadoni’s future.


      “It’s true that with the Nazionale you can never have too much time to wait, but to talk about this game as a last chance saloon is exaggerated,” added Albertini.


        The two men were teammates at Milan and former Barcelona midfielder Albertini was instrumental in picking Donadoni as Lippi’s successor.


        There are claims this week that this poor start to his Azzurri career will be helped by the return of Lippi in a consultant’s role.


      “We have never contacted Lippi,” assured Albertini. “If we want to continue building things up just to knock them down again, then the Press is on the right track. It’s the same old story. Let’s just give Donadoni the space to work.”


        It is a familiar scenario, as many members of the Italian media lobbied to have Lippi fired ahead of Germany 2006, citing his name in the early days of the Calciopoli investigation as incompatible with the job of representing the nation at a World Cup. He was cleared of all wrong-doing.