Football: Juve still paying for match-fixing

Juve drew 2-2 against Napoli as Roma beat Sampdoria 3-1.

ROME: It is five years since Juventus were found guilty of match-fixing for their part in the Italian Calciopoli scandal and having finished the 2010/11 season in seventh, it seems they are still paying for the mistakes they had made earlier.

Juve drew 2-2 against Napoli on Sunday as Roma beat Sampdoria 3-1 to ensure the Old Lady of Turin not only finished seventh for the second year in a row but have missed out on European football for the third year in the last six seasons.

Having been relegated to Serie B for their part in Calciopoli and been stripped of both the 2005 and 2006 titles, they missed out on Europe that season and the next, following their return to Serie A.

But in their first season back in the top flight, Juve surprised many people by claiming a third-placed finish after having had to sell stars such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Patrick Vieira and Fabio Cannavaro.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2011.