Valencia goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand admits that his exclusion from Germany's Euro 2008 squad has left him "surprised, shocked and irritated".The 29-year-old was left out of Joachim Low's squad despite being the second choice throughout the qualifying campaign and increasing the pressure on number one Jens Lehmann over recent months.

Instead, youngster Rene Adler of Bayer Leverkusen and Hannover's more experienced Robert Enke will be travelling to Austria and Switzerland this summer.

Low admitted that Hildebrand had taken the news badly, and the player used his own website timo-hildebrand.de to explain exactly how hard the news had hit him.

"This morning, goalkeeper coach Andreas Kopke called me and informed me that the national team's coaching team had decided not to nominate me for the upcoming European Championships," he wrote.

"I am surprised, shocked and irritated.

"Obviously, there is nothing I can do but accept this decision as it is, but I cannot undestand it whatsoever.

"I have been in the squad for all the qualifying matches and there was no criticism of my performance and no indication that it was not enough.

"It has always been clear to me that I am the number two, but I will challenge (to be number one) because my form and performances are right, because I am fit and because the time is right.

"For this, not being picked is completely unexpected and comes from out of nowhere."

Hildebrand seemed to be one of the certainties in Low's 23-man squad and was even seen by many as Germany's number one, particularly since he has been playing regularly this season whereas Jens Lehmann has taken his place predominantly on the bench for Arsenal.

And nobody was more convinced of his place in the squad than Hildebrand, who feels he did everything to earn it.

"After winning the league title with Stuttgart, I transferred to Spain to gain more international experience," he added.

"I have truly made the breakthrough with Valencia and won a battle for my place. I have worked incredibly hard and continued to perform well.

"I am convinced that I have improved over the last year in every department and I could also prove myself against world class clubs.

"All of these are things are demanded for the national team and, until now, I had the feeling that I fulfilled the profile perfectly."

Nevertheless, Hildebrand has vowed to fight back. Germany coach Low said he "could not predict" what it would mean for Hildebrand's career, but he knows it will spur him on to get even better after the initial disappointment.

"I will need a while to deal with this blow," he admitted.

"The disappointment is huge, it hurts like an open wound, but it will not prevent me from fighting for my aims.

"This blow knocks me back, but it will not kill me off."

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