Sampdoria forward Antonio Cassano should play for Italy, ex-Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni said Tuesday ahead of his new team Ireland's clash with Italy in Bari.
Trapattoni recalled that he had given the ex-Roma and Real Madrid striker his first cap and had been ''rewarded with great play'' during Italy's Euro 2004 campaign.
The issue of Cassano's non-selection by Trapattoni's successor, World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi, has become more heated in the run-up to the Italy-Ireland game in Cassano's home town on Wednesday night.
Lippi has said he expects to be booed by some sections of the crowd but has declined to explained why the in-form Cassano is not in his squad.
Trapattoni, who coached Italy during its disappointing 2002 World Cup and 2004 Euro campaigns, stressed that in his view Cassano was ''an international-class player'' but added: ''All coaches are entitled to make up their own minds''.
He also recalled that he had treated the former 'bad boy' of Italian soccer ''like a son''.
