When England face off against Italy in their opening World Cup match in Manaus on Saturday, supporters of Liverpool and Juventus will be forgiven for paying particularly close attention.
Five players from each club could be standing on the pitch for kick-off at the Amazonia Arena.
While Manchester City finished last season as Premier League champions, Liverpool provided the sensation of the campaign by coming within a whisker of claiming a first top-flight title since 1990.
While captain Steven Gerrard and right-back Glen Johnson have long been England regulars, Jordan Henderson, Daniel Sturridge and teenager Raheem Sterling have only emerged as potential starters in the past year.
Alongside Henderson, 34-year-old Gerrard has excelled in a new, deep-lying midfield role, which enables him to showcase the full extent of his passing range.
The jet-heeled Sterling, 19, gives Hodgson options either on the flanks or as a central attacking midfielder, while 24-year-old Sturridge, who scored 21 goals last season, is in the form of his career.
Rickie Lambert’s recent move to Anfield from Southampton means that England manager Roy Hodgson could conceivably field a team containing six Liverpool players, but it is unlikely that he will start against Italy.
Given Juventus’s run of three successive Serie A crowns under Antonio Conte, it is unsurprising that their players feature so prominently in the four-time world champions’ line-up.
The defence has a Juventus spine, with captain Gianluigi Buffon keeping goal behind a centre-back pairing formed by club colleagues Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini.
In Turin, Conte plays with three centre-backs: Barzagli on the right, Chiellini on the left, and Leonardo Bonucci in the middle.
However, Bonucci has endured a draining season and Azzurri coach Cesare Prandelli is expected to deploy Chiellini instead, with promising Torino defender Matteo Darmian coming in at left-back.
In midfield, Juve’s Andrea Pirlo pulls the strings in a slightly withdrawn position, although he increasingly shares playmaking responsibilities with Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Verratti.
The fifth ‘Juventino’ is expected to be Claudio Marchisio, on the left-hand side of the central midfield trio.
