Italy coach Marcello Lippi expects Alessandro Nesta to recover from a muscle strain in time to play in the Azzurri's World Cup opener against Ghana on Monday.

Gianluca Zambrotta and Gennaro Gattuso have already been ruled out of the match and the stricken pair were joined on the sidelines by Nesta during Thursday's training session.

However, Lippi claimed: "Nesta has a good chance of recuperating."

The Azzurri chief also insisted he was not concerned about the mini injury crisis in his squad.

"Unfortunately, we have had some injuries," he said. "You hope, obviously, that you will have everyone available but if you have faith in your squad you can't cry about a few players missing.

"We need to stay positive and we are going forward with optimism and with the players who are at my disposal.

"I want to transmit as much faith to the team as possible, also in any moments of difficulty I will motivate them until the end.

"I've never cried about injuries. I might have a thousand faults as a coach but I feel it is very important that all the players in the squad feel important.

"That is my character, if someone is injured then I try to find something positive."

Lippi will wait until Monday morning to finalise his starting line-up for the Group E clash in Hanover, with Simone Perrotta likely to take Gattuso's place in midfield and Cristian Zaccardo in line to replace Zambrotta.