Former Juventus director Luciano Moggi hits back at Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti who claimed Calciopoli had been a good thing for Italian football.
Moggi had hired Ancelotti at Juventus in 1999 and was banned from Italian football a few years later following the Calciopoli scandal. Ancelotti said earlier this week that Calciopoli was a ‘positive’ event which allowed to clean Italian football.
Moggi has now replied to the Real Madrid coach with a column published in Libero newspaper.
“Dear Carlo, your claims make me think you forget about your time at Juventus and don’t realise that you are also reporting yourself. You were part of that ‘dirty football’ you enjoyed because it made you grow as a coach,” he wrote.
“You were part of that football also when Juventus lost the title under the rain in Perugia. You were part of that football when the FIGC changed the rules one week before Juventus-Roma giving the Giallorossi the chance to play with an extra-EU player, Nakata, who hadn’t been allowed to play before.
“He was also decisive because he scored the equaliser that allowed Roma to win the title and you finished as a runner-up once again.
“At that time, you used to come to my office to complain about the injustice suffered by Juventus. I don’t understand why you condemn this behaviour now, just like traitors who take advantage of the dirty game to grow and then, with lights off, they make whistleblowers, but only to pass as do-gooders.
“It’s easy to fish in a barrel and it costs nothing unless you have something else to declare, only with proofs because phone tappings are ready to deny and Gianfelice Facchetti knows something about it.”
Ancelotti comments on his struggles at Juve and Napoli and ‘positive’ Calciopoli
Ancelotti replaced Marcello Lippi at Juventus in February 1999 and remained at the club until 2001. He never won any major trophy in Turin, losing the Serie A title in the last match of the 1999-2000 campaign in Perugia. His Juventus side had wasted a nine-point lead over Lazio in the last eight games of the season.
Ancelotti also spoke about his thought time at Juventus during his interview with Universo Valdano this week, saying that the Old Lady fans never loved him because of his past as a footballer at Roma and Milan.