Alberto Gilardino has been trusted to provide the main attacking force for an Italy side missing a number of key players for their World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria.

Mario Balotelli, Riccardo Montolivo and Pablo Osvaldo are all unavailable, so Cesare Prandelli has had to turn to a number of fringe players.

AC Milan forward Stephan El Shaarawy must settle for a place on the bench but Lorenzo Insigne starts for the first time on the international stage.

Bulgaria can move to within a point of their opponents with a victory this evening and they will be hoping that key duo Aleksandar Tonev and Stanislav Monev to make an impact.

Italy: Buffon, Abate, Bonucci, Chiellini, Antonelli, Thiago Motta, Pirlo, De Rossi; Candreva, Insigne, Gilardino

Bulgaria: Stoyanov, Zanev, Dimitrov, J Hristov, Milanov, Alexandrov, Delev, Rangelov, Nedelev, Zlatinsky, V Hristov, Gargorov