Serie A players suspected Juventus was the referees' darling but couldn't speak out for fear of punishment, AC Milan and Italy star Alessandro Nesta said Thursday.
Asked about the match-fixing scandal that has rocked Italian soccer, Nesta said: "We'd all noticed it. We thought there was something fishy - but not to that extent". On the chances of Milan being awarded Juventus's last two titles if it is proven that Juve's ex-general manager Luciano Moggi controlled referees, Nesta said: "I don't know if I'd accept the titles if they were revoked".
"One thing's for sure, I wouldn't celebrate them. It's better to wipe out those two years," said the defender, who stressed he had severed links with the GEA player agency, run by Moggi's son, more than three years ago. GEA is suspected of playing a key part in Moggi's allegedly crooked network.
Nesta said he had been "disgusted" by "the whole system" and it would be right to punish Juve if Moggi was found guilty.
"I wouldn't like to see Juve in Serie B. It's been a great adversary. But you have to pay if you do wrong". "It's not me personally who feels betrayed - they betrayed all the people who love soccer".
"They'll only start supporting us again if the penalties are correct. But this time I think justice will be done," said the former Lazio player, voicing the hope that the soccer federation's new special prosecutor, former Clean Hands head Francesco Saverio Borrelli, would "do a good job".
Nesta's club and international team-mate Alberto Gilardino took a more charitable view, saying: "It'll be up to soccer's disciplinary board, but in my view Juventus deserved to win the last two titles".
"It earned them on the field of play," the striker said.
