GOALKEEPER Gianluigi Buffon broke off training with Italy's World Cup squad on Wednesday to face questioning in the country's wide-ranging soccer scandal.
Buffon was questioned for a little more than one-and-a-half hours at Parma's courthouse by prosecutors investigating alleged illegal betting.
Buffon's lawyer, Mario Valerio Corini, said the player was not under investigation. "It was serene discussion," Corini said. "There is no investigation regarding Gigi Buffon by Parma prosecutors."
The Juventus goalkeeper was questioned two weeks ago when he voluntarily went to magistrates in Turin, who are conducting some of the scandal probes.
Buffon's lawyer has said the goalkeeper gambled on tennis, horse racing and non-Italian soccer games, but stopped when that practice was banned last year.
Prosecutors in Turin, Juventus, Naples and Rome are also conducting investigations. These include suspected match-fixing after wiretapped conversations indicated alleged involvement by club officials, match officials and referees.
Italy team manager Gigi Riva acknowledged that the latest questioning of Buffon was affecting the squad's morale.
"The state of mind isn't certainly the greatest," Riva said.
source : SMH.com.au
