App.	Minutes on Pitch	Goals	Av. Rating	Star Man
3	270	1	6.00	0

One of the few youthful Italian players traveling to Austria and Switzerland this summer, De Rossi is the most likely pretender to the crowns of Gennaro Gattuso and Massimo Ambrosini in the centre of midfield. Strong, energetic and excellent in the tackle, De Rossi is a product of the Roma youth system and has been a regular player there since 2002. The 24-year-old began his career during the qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup and went into the finals expecting to play a significant part in the tournament. However he was red-carded for elbowing Brian McBride of the USA in a group match, an offence that led to a four-match ban. De Rossi did get a chance to make an impact though, coming off the bench in the World Cup Final and scoring the third Italian penalty in their shoot-out win over France.