De Rossi: Confident of facing Germany

Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has confirmed he will be fit to play.

Schweinsteiger complained of a sore ankle after the last-eight win over Greece on Friday.

However, the Bayern Munich man has shrugged off the problem and will take his place in the German side aiming to record their first competitive win over Italy.

"I am 100% fit and very much looking forward to the game," he said.

"I have trained twice fully and I feel good."

Coach Joachim Low is expected to bring back Arsenal new-boy Lukas Podolski, Thomas Muller and tournament top scorer Mario Gomez after surprisingly leaving all three players out of his starting line-up last time out.

Low's decision to rest the trio raised an eyebrow.

But the Germany coach, whose side are on a world record run of 15 successive wins in competitive matches, is unrepentant.

"I don't make my decisions dependent on what could happen," he said.

"I made my decision based on my own conviction.

"Before the Greece game I had the feeling in the last third of the game we had the right players who could play well against their defence."

Italy midfielder Daniele de Rossi is confident he will not be kept out by a bad back.

De Rossi suffers from long-standing back problems and was in an element of discomfort immediately after Sunday's win over England in Kiev

However, as a key man in the Azzurri ranks, coach Cesare Prandelli would want De Rossi available and the Roma man has no intention of missing out.

"It is not a case of being a hero or a warrior," he said.

"I would never give up the opportunity of playing for Italy against Germany, although I would feel the same if it was a match for Roma in the Coppa Italia.

"Ok. I have got a bad back.

"But I have got a lot of faith in the medical people. There are a few fitness tests tomorrow but I am confident I will make it."