It has been a long tough day for the Italian football: the enquiry started by the state attourney of Cremona, regarding some players involved in illegal betting,  has been going on already for some weeks, but it seems to have litterally exploded this morning, when the police arrived at the Italian national training team in Florence in search of Zenit St. Petersburg left back Domenico Criscito. At the same time the police have arrested many players like Lazio Rome captain Stefano Mauri, Padova midfielder Omar Milanetto and Sampdoria forward Cristian Bertani. Later, the police have also made a search in the house of Juventus coach Antonio Conte.

It was a particular day, because Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was expected to edit the list of the squad for Euro 2012. Though Criscito declares his innocence, Prandelli has been forced to exclude him from such list, and probably he will have to do the same with Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci, whose name has come out as part of the inquiry later today. The Italian football federation has not officially excluded Criscito, but Prandelli has declared that the player had too much pression on him and that he could have been avoked by the police even right before a game. Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi has declared that the situation is worse than in 2006, when the Calciopoli scandal exploded right before the World Cup, then won by Italy.

The consequence for the Italian football will in any case be enormous: with names of players coming out hour by hour (the last one is former star Christian Vieri) and two defenders already out of the picture, his task at the European championship will be incredibly hard. With also high executives involved, like Siena president Massimo Mezzaroma, the final standing of all the Italian divisions, that have just ended, could be changed during the summer, and could involve clubs that should take part to the Champions League and the Europa League.