Rome - Italian anger at Brazil's decision not to hand over a convicted murderer and former leftist terrorist intensified Tuesday and threatened to spill over onto the football pitch.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini following talks with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi decided to recall Rome's ambassador to Brasilia Micele Valensise "for consultations," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The move followed the "grave decision" on Monday by Brazil's top prosecutor to call for extradition proceedings against Cesare Battisti to be dropped, the statement said.

"At this stage we need to seriously consider the possibility of cancelling the friendly match between the national team and Brazil," said a Foreign Ministry undersecretary referring to a football encounter scheduled for February 10 in London.

Brazilian prosecutor Antonio Fernando de Souza based the shelving of Italy's extradition request on the basis of a January 13 decision by Brazil's government to grant political refugee status.

Italy leaders, including President Giorgio Napolitano have appealed to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to reverse the decision and uphold a November 2008 ruling by Brazil's National Committee for Refugees, which recommended extradition.

Battisti has been on the run from Italian authorities since 1981, when he escaped from prison while awaiting trial for four killings committed by the extremist group Armed Proletarians for Communism.

He fled to France and was subsequently tried in absentia for two of the murders and sentenced to life in prison.

In France, Battisti benefited from a policy introduced by then- president Francois Mitterand granting Italian leftists refuge. He embraced a new career as mystery writer.

However, sensing that France was reversing its asylum policy after spending some time in detention, Battisti disappeared in 2004. He re- emerged in Brazil, where he was arrested in March 2007 following a request from Interpol. (dpa)