Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has defended his decision to include Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci in his Euro 2012 squad.

Typically they feature dawn raids and search warrants; obscure provincial prosecutors with snappy wardrobes and an eye for publicity; pictures of sheepish young men emerging from police stations; extracts from mobile phone taps selectively leaked to the papers; condemnation and summary convictions; and then a five-year appeal process during which it emerges that everyone was doing it but the accused had the misfortune or the stupidity to be caught.

Italy host Luxembourg in a Euro 2012 warm-up tomorrow in Parma with the country gripped by a new match-fixing scandal.

Italy defender Domenico Criscito will not play at the European Championship as he is under investigation in the country's latest match-fixing scandal.

Republic of Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni has described the latest match-fixing scandal to hit Italy as "devastating" and believes it further tarnishes the image of Italian football.

Benfica produced a dynamic performance to overturn a first-leg deficit against Zenit St Petersburg and earn a place in the last eight of the Champions League last night.

NEW ZEALAND coach Ricki Herbert was ecstatic last night after world champions Italy were saved from humiliation against his team of minnows only by a controversial penalty.

DEFENDING champions Italy had to come from behind to salvage a draw in their World Cup Group F opener against Paraguay in Cape Town last night.