Group B, Italy v France:With the stakes and the tension high ahead of tonight's game in the San Siro, Paddy Agnewreports from Milan on the match that could have a major say on who heads to the finals

"Tension is high, they're two good teams and we have a bit of history between us. I hope that it remains just a game of football, despite all the big talk . . . We'll be concentrated for a game in which we'll have to give 110 per cent, in front of our own fans. The things they've said will just fire us up all the more - they have scored an own goal"

As Italy and Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero looks forward to tonight's Italy v France Euro qualifier at the San Siro in Milan, there is no denying the importance of the game. With France two points clear of Italy in Group B, this could be a match that will decide the final outcome of the group and perhaps have a major say on whether the reigning World Champions qualify for next summer's European Championships in Austria and Switzerland.

As Del Piero says, France and Italy have a bit of history between them. Until last summer in Germany, France had had the better of recent times, eliminating Italy on penalties at the France 1998 World Cup finals and beating them in the Euro 2000 final thanks a David Trezeguet golden goal That was, of course, until last summer and the Zidane-Materazzi head butt on the way to Italy's World Cup win.

That defeat still rankles. So much so that French coach Raymond Domenech got the old needle out fully a month ago, suggesting that corruption was an endemic trait in Italian football.

Talking to the French daily Le Parisien, Domenech recalled an Italy v France under-21 game in 1999, when he had been the France under-21 coach: "I didn't invent scandals in football. You get 'fixed' games. I recall an Italy v France under-21 game played in Taranto in 1999 . . . where the referee had been bought. I have rarely been so cheated. When something like that happens to you once, you simply lose faith and trust . . . "

For his pains, and indeed for his unsubstantiated accusations, Domenech has been given a one-match ban by Uefa. It matters little, he says, since he will watch the match "from a bit higher up" in the stands.

However, the pre-match "Italy bashing" did not end there. Up at the French training centre in Clairefontaine this week, Arsenal's 22-year-old midfielder Lassana Diara was also at it: "Everyone knows that Italians have a reputation as cheats and provokers. The important thing is not to fall into their traps. I am a black man and in Italy we often get insulted, not just by the fans, but also by the players."

Gallic words that hardly express the De Coubertin spirit. Yet one wonders about the wisdom of such a pre-match "wind-up". Clearly, Italy and Italian football lend themselves to such jibes. Thanks to the "Calciopoli" match-fixing scandal, the image of Italian football has been thoroughly sullied worldwide over the last 18 months.

Yet, this is just the moment when Italy are most dangerous. Prior to the World Cup finals last year, there were those who argued that, such are the ethical shortcomings of Italian football, Italy did not really deserve to be in Germany. Such comments were merely red rags to the Italian bull. The one thing that then coach Marcello Lippi did not have to worry about all the way along the winning road to Berlin was motivation. His players were all fired up and with a point to prove.

Lippi's successor, the former AC Milan midfielder Roberto Donadoni, may benefit from exactly the same sort of motivation. Messrs Domenech and Diarra could well have delivered the best pre-match pep talk an Italian coach could want.

"As far as I am concerned, last year's World Cup finals showed the world an image of clean and winning Italian football. Before the semi-final last year, the Germans tried to provoke us but, in the end, they had to compliment us for our victory. I hope it goes the same way with the French this time. Beating them would make our victory in Berlin all the more complete," says Del Piero.

Coach Donadoni has tried to play down the polemics, saying he would be more than happy to shake hands with Domenech and adding he would prefer to see the French coach on the bench. To be fair, Donadoni has had other problems on his mind. For a start, already this summer he definitively lost two key players in playmaker Francesco Totti and defender Alessandro Nesta, both of whom have opted to retire from the international team. Then in a friendly against Hungary three weeks ago, he suffered a further double loss, Italy playing badly and losing 3-1 and the Berlin "bad boy", Marco Materazzi, picking up an injury that has ruled him out of tonight's game.

Worse still, Donadoni's number-one-choice striker, Luca Toni, now of Bayern Munich, remains a doubtful starter.

On top of that, Donadoni argued all summer long that the Italian Serie A championship should start up in mid-August and not at the end of August, so as to give his players a chance to reach full fitness in time for this game. Needless to say, Donadoni lost this argument and the Italian league started up just two weeks ago, more than a month later than the French start-up.

With the stakes and the tension high, Donadoni is almost certain to look to some experienced old heads to carry the flag tonight. The former Chelsea, Real Madrid and AC Milan defender 34-year-old Christian Panucci of Roma may well be asked to step into central defence in place of Materazzi, while the eternal goalpoacher AC Milan's 33-year-old Pippo Inzaghi may take over from Toni up front, playing alongside another "youngster" in 32-year-old Del Piero.

Elsewhere, Italy will have a familiar look, with men like Massimo Oddo and Gianluca Zambrotta in defence, Gigi Buffon in goal and Fabio Grosso, Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo in midfield.

As for the French, just to add a little spice, they may well field Inter Milan midfielder Patrick Vieira, even though Inter claim the player is still suffering from a hamstring problem. Barcelona's Thierry Henry seems set to lead the French attack, backed by the useful trio of Diarra, Chelsea's Claude Makelele and Lyon's Jeremy Toulalan. Roma defender Philippe Mexes is on standby to replace Arsenal's William Gallas, currently suffering from a groin problem.

A tough, tight game is in prospect with, as so often, attitude proving the key.

As Italy coach Donadoni puts it, "My players' sense of pride may well make up for their lack of fitness and their physical problems."