Del Piero: Juventus deserved stripped titles
Reuters - Tuesday 19 October 2010, 12:29
MILAN - Alessandro Del Piero, the highest
profile player to be called so far as a witness in Italy's
match-fixing trial, said on Tuesday his Juventus side had
deserved the two Serie A titles which were stripped because of
the scandal.
The long-running trial, which features former Juventus
general manager Luciano Moggi as one the defendants, is the
criminal equivalent of the sporting tribunal which took away the
Turin side's 2005 and 2006 scudettos for procuring compliant
referees.
Asked by a lawyer how many trophies he had won with Juve,
Del Piero told the court: "It depends. I also count the two
scudettos taken away. While I have been playing, I believe that
every side that have won a championship have deserved it."
The former Italy forward, who has spent almost his entire
career with Juventus, equalled Giampiero Boniperti's Juve record
of 178 Serie A goals on Sunday and usually avoids controversy.
However, the soft-spoken 35-year-old is backing Juve's
campaign for Inter Milan to have the 2006 league title which was
awarded to them also stripped after new evidence suggested their
rivals could have also been implicated in the scandal.
European champions Inter, bidding for their sixth straight
Serie A title this season, deny wrongdoing but the Italian
soccer federation has taken fresh phone tap evidence from the
criminal trial in Naples which it is examining.
Several other Italian players and referees were heard as
witnesses on Tuesday.