Gianluigi Buffon is better than Manuel Neuer, says Italy team-mate Immobile

Immobile watched on from the bench in Bordeaux as Italy lost to their rivals for the first time in a competitive fixture in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals in July.

Buffon drew the short straw in the penalty shoot-out which followed a 1-1 draw, but the Lazio forward still believes the Juventus custodian has no rivals in the world game.

"In Buffon, we have the best goalkeeper in the world," Immobile told Germany's Kicker magazine.

"He is still better than Neuer."

Neither are expected to start on Tuesday night when Italy welcome Germany to the San Siro, however, with both coaches intending to use the fixture for experimentation with younger players.

Seventeen-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma will stand in goal for Italy while Bernd Leno will be between the posts for Germany in a game which will nevertheless be filled with prestige, not least since Italy now know what it is like to lose to Germany.

"We were on the same level as them at the European Championship, but we came home empty-handed," Immobile said.

"I've never suffered in my career as much as I did that night. I needed quite a few days to come to terms with that. Now let's see how far we are from Germany's level."

Immobile led the Italy attack and scored in their 4-0 World Cup qualifying win over Liechtenstein on Friday night, but he may have a watching brief on Tuesday as Italy coach Giampiero Ventura experiments in a game he admits he could have done without.

"It would have been nicer to have a less demanding game," Ventura said at a press conference.

"They are the world champions. It's a tough game and I'm sorry, also because when you face Germany, you want to have had a few days to prepare yet we've had practically 24 hours to prepare and that's not much.

"But we'll just try to get the best we can out of this game. I know results matter a lot in Italy and this also influences judgements, but together with the result what matters to me is the spirit, the interpretation and reading of situations.

"So let's try to take a step forwards in this regard."

Germany coach Joachim Low has also announced plans to rotate his team following an 8-0 win over San Marino which extended their perfect start to World Cup qualifying.

Yannick Gerhardt is "certainly an option" to make his debut, while Serge Gnabry and Benjamin Henrichs could both start. In addition to confirming Leno's starting role, Low added that Benedikt Howedes and Mats Hummels - his two most experienced players - will form the heart of his defence, while he had warm words too for Schalke's Leon Goretzka - one of several players 21 or under set to start the match.

"Goretzka's made a good impression on me," he said at a press conference in Milan.

"He's a player with good technique, a lot of tempo with and without the ball and also a good personality. He's very mature when he talks and he's playing regularly at Schalke, which is good for him."