Many players are there much of the time anyway.
Just about every player will be facing a friend, or a club teammate, current or former, when the two neighboring countries face off. Les Bleus vs. the Azzurri. Like migrant laborers, the French have flocked to Italy's Serie A over the past 15 years, slowly acquiring the skills, poise and winner's mentality that has marked the classic Italian payer. For every Alessandro del Piero, there is a Zinedine Zidane. For every Paolo Maldini, there is a Marcel Desailly.