This was the question that was being asked all over Italy during the past few days.

It happened because of two reasons: This first was the agreement reached between the Italian national coach, Cesare Prandelli, and Juventus manager Antonio Conte – currently serving a long suspension because of a betting scandal – for midfielder Pirlo to be given preferential treatment; the second reason was the injury to goalkeeper Buffon which deprived him of a place in the line-up against Denmark last Tuesday.

The Italian media – ever so close to the Turin club – did not make such a big fuss over the two issues. They mentioned them, but to report them as news, rather than to analyse what they really meant. But supporters of other clubs wondered why this was happening.

In Buffon’s case, the injury was thought to have been a diplomatic way of having a rest before today’s crucial encounter between Juventus and Napoli, a top-of-the-table clash that will speak volumes on the rest of the season. That the injury was confirmed and that Buffon is likely to miss tonight’s match has defused the situation somewhat. We’ll know more this evening.

But the idea to give preferential treatment to Pirlo is something that does raise doubts. The agreement was for Pirlo to play for Italy, but wherever possible not to finish the game so as not to tire him out. It so happened that against Armenia last week he was substituted towards the end.

That Pirlo is treated in a special way irks other clubs, who also allow their players to be called for national team matches. Why Pirlo and not the others? And why now? Again, the Italian media gleaned over the issue, as if condoning the agreement.

That Prandelli seems to give way to what Juventus say – he was a former player of the current Italian champions – could also be seen in his choice of line-up. Against Armenia, played yesterday week, he started with six Juventus players; against Denmark on Tuesday, that is closer to the Napoli game, he started with four.

That was highly indicative of the way Prandelli sees the situation. The fact that Italy won both games and are comfortably at the top of the qualifying group for the Brazil World Cup in 2014 has helped him avoid controversy. But on the one hand, the media speak of the Ital-Juve (a national side that is made up mostly of Juventus players) but then it conveniently ignores the issue when the number of Juventus players chosen is reduced as a favour for Juventus.