Chelsea boss speaks about fixing claims

Antonio Conte admits he could easily have walked away from football when he was dragged into one of Italy’s match-fixing scandals.

Antonio Conte admits he could easily have walked away from football when he was dragged into one of Italy’s match-fixing scandals.

Instead, he stayed in highly visible role while fighting to clear his name until a judge found him not guilty in May.

‘The story is a bad story and a story I do not accept,’ said Conte. ‘I fought against it and risked myself to go before a judge.

‘I could have chosen another way. It would have been very easy for me to finish and let the time pass.

‘In Italy, in the past, with this type of story, five years and it’s finished.’

Conte mimed washing his hands for emphasis. ‘But no, I wanted to be judged. Many people wrote bad things without knowing the reality.’

Conte was dragged into the scandal in 2012 when Filippo Carobbio, one of his former players at Siena, said that the manager knew of two fixed games and failed to report them.

One charge was soon dropped but the Italian FA imposed a 10-month ban, reduced on appeal, before a long legal process unfolded.

Conte lived under suspicion for four years, though the Italian FA put him in charge of the national team, until he was cleared before Euro 2016.

‘The national team chose me as the coach in this period of the fixing allegations,’ said Conte. ‘I want always to win and I work very hard to win but never, never like this.’ – Daily Mail