Too many foreigners in Serie A says Donadoni

Italy national coach Roberto Donadoni, seen here in march 2007, said on Monday that there were too many foreigners playing in Serie A.

Italy national coach Roberto Donadoni said on Monday that there were too many foreigners playing in Serie A.

The former AC Milan and Italy star - who replaced Marcello Lippi at the helm of the world champions after they won the World Cup last year - had already started the debate last week when he congratulated Inter Milan on winning the domestic title but regretted that there had been just one Italian player who started the match.

"Maybe I am going to make some enemies but honestly in Italy there are too many foreign players," said Donadoni.

"When I was playing, there were three per team, and maybe that wasn't enough.

"But there shouldn't be more than five per team as there is now," added the 43-year-old, who has struggled to win over the fans since replacing Lippi though three successive wins in their Euro 2008 qualifiers has reduced the gap between them and group leaders Scotland to two.

Hopwever, despite Donadoni's comments AC Milan, Italy's sole survivors in the Champions League, are likely to field at least six and probably seven - should Paolo Maldini recover from a knee injury - in their second leg semi-final clash with Manchester United on Wednesday.