Del Piero presses case for Euro place

(CNN) -- At 33, it may yet be too soon to talk about Alessandro Del Piero's brilliant season as a career swansong -- Paolo Maldini after all is still going strong for AC Milan just a few weeks short of his 40th birthday. But what is true is that the Juventus playmaker is enjoying a late renaissance in a career which, after blossoming early, seemed to be drifting towards anti-climactic retirement.

On Sunday Del Piero scored a stunning hat-trick in the bianconieri's 4-0 win over Atalanta, helping the Turin giants clinch third place and a return to the Champions League in their first season back in Serie A since relegation over the 2006 match-fixing scandal and taking his tally for the campaign to 17 goals.

So impressive has Del Piero's form been as well, that the clamor for him to be recalled to the Italian squad for the Euro 2008 finals is becoming so disruptive that national coach Roberto Donadoni may have no choice but to bow to the will of the people.

"Everybody wants Del Piero in the Azzurri," the headline on the front page of the Gazzetta dello Sport read this week.

And Juve coach Claudio Ranieri, speaking after the player's match-winning display against Atalanta, said: "I'm convinced that Donadoni will call Del Piero. Alex is in great form at the moment, he's been showing that for a long time. I'm sure he'll get a call up, I would call him up."

Donadoni has not picked Del Piero since disastrously asking him to play in midfield in a friendly defeat by France last September, and the Juve star's apparent unsuitability for Donadoni's preferred 4-3-3 formation had lead most to assume that after 85 caps Del Piero's international career was over.

But Donadoni this week hinted otherwise: "I've never said that Del Piero has lost his place in the national team. I don't think anyone can accuse me of that, also considering there's still some time left before the European Championship."

For his part, Del Piero shows no sign of retiring quietly from the international stage, insisting that he can still fit in with the coach's plans by playing as a wide forward while reiterating his apathy to sitting deeper in midfield: "I'm OK playing wide in attack. I think versatility and a willingness to sacrifice yourself for the team are important qualities, but even at Juventus I could never play as a midfielder because I would not perform as well as a player who is used to playing that position."

For now though, Del Piero isn't expecting a phone call from Donadoni. "We haven't spoken lately," he told reporters this week. "The important thing is that he calls me at the right moment. Then, if it doesn't happen, life goes on the same. I really want to go to the Euros but we'll have to wait for his decision." E-mail to a friend