Italy coach Marcello Lippi has confirmed that Francesco Totti will play in the Group E clash against Ghana on Monday.

The AS Roma star was sidelined for three months after breaking his ankle in February and has only recently returned to action.

However, Lippi insisted: "Totti will play a part or all of the game, you can interpret that a number of ways.

"I've been evaluating his progress, as I have with all my players, and I have seen him improve considerably."

Totti has struggled to impress on the big stage in the past. He helped Italy make the final of Euro 2000 but was sent off for diving as his team lost to South Korea in the second round of the 2002 World Cup, before his Euro 2004 campaign was cut short when he was suspended for spitting at Denmark's Christian Poulsen.