Italy have been plagued by injuries during their build-up to the EuroBasket but are still slight favourites going into their opening Group D clash against Slovenia.

Azzurri coach Carlo Recalcati was only able to announce his final roster two days prior to the start of the competition with the injury bug robbing him of rising star Danilo Gallinari, strongman Mason Rocca and captain Giacomo Galanda.

Fortunately for the Italians, forward Andrea Bargnani has recovered from back pain while Marco Belinelli and Angelo Gigli have also overcome minor knocks.

Last Time Out: Slovenia edged Italy 84-81 in last month's Acropolis Tournament. The winners

		Lorbek must now put his recent struggles behind him

on the day had four players in double figures. Italy trailed by as many as 19 points early in the third quarter of that game but stormed back to cut the deficit to 82-81 before Slovenia pulled off the win.

Key Match-up: With Rocca out of the squad, Bargnani - who usually spends much of his time on the perimeter - will have to be strong inside to combat Slovenia's powerful Matjaz Smodis, the team's bona fide superstar.

Statistics: Slovenia coach Ales Pipan will want Smodis on the court as much as possible, but how many minutes can he reasonably be expected to play? Likewise, Recalcati will want to carefully monitor his players' minutes as much as possible with potentially a long tournament ahead of them.

X-factor: Smodis will play well, but what about Erazem Lorbek, a player with a point to prove if ever there was one. He missed the FIBA World Championship in Japan last year and then struggled so badly that he left Spanish side Unicaja Malaga to return to play professionally in Italy. Massimo Bulleri was the heart and soul of the Italian teams that took bronze at the 2003 EuroBasket and won an Olympic silver medal in Greece in 2004. He hasn't played well consistently since but, should he provide a spark, that will be a very important development for the Azzurri.

Speaking out: "Despite the initial enthusiasm and the problems and disappointments that came after, we have a competitive team. My team is really motivated, I believe my team can play against anyone - we will go game by game. I would like to know our own destiny but I can't. The only thing I know is that my players will give their all. The EuroBasket is the most important tournament, even more than the Olympics and we want to do well." - Italy coach Recalcati.