Former referee Massimo De Santis, who was banned for four years this past July after he was found guilty of conspiring to fix Serie A games during the 2004-05 season, claimed last week that Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti paid a private firm to spy on him and his wife. The disgraced ref said Inter paid someone to take photographs of him and tap his phone in order to eventually blackmail him. If that wasn’t enough, De Santis said the club also tried to spy on its former temperamental star Christian Vieri by tapping his phone.

Now, Italy’s soccer federation says it will start a probe into De Santis’s claims. In Italy it is illegal to tap a phone without a judge’s permission. So, if the allegations turn out to be true (Moratti has vehemently denied any involvement), then Inter could be charged with violating the laws that govern the federation’s “fair conduct” clause -- an offense that carries a fine, but not a point deduction.

The latest chapter in the ongoing scandal comes on the heels of the biggest match-fixing scandal in the country’s history after Juventus was relegated to Serie B and point deductions were leveled against AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina. Ironically, Inter Milan was awarded last season’s Scudetto after Juve was stripped of the title when phone conversations revealed that the former club’s general manager, Luciano Moggi, was given a say as to what referees should officiate which league games.

Angry Juve fans now want Inter stripped of the title given to them this summer. Frankly, I can’t blame Juve fans. You would be upset too if your team was stripped of two titles and demoted. Even though Inter has been playing over the past few weeks like they deserve that tiny shield stitched to their jerseys, these new allegations their jerseys, these new allegations should give league officials some agida.

The Nerazzurri are a very wealthy club, but also one that has had little success over the past 15 years. Inter is notorious for failing to properly evaluate talent (they axed Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos back in 1996) and have the uncanny ability to make bad management decisions (coaches Marcello Lippi, Hector Cuper and Gigi Simoni were all each fired less than 10 games into the season).  

While Inter has been playing its best Serie A soccer in years, the fact that it’s 0-2 in the Champions League has given Nerazzurri fans some reason to worry. But amid all the talk that Inter may have been behind a plot to wiretap De Santis and later blackmail him, let’s not lose sight of the excitement currently being generated by Juventus in Serie B. I don’t know if the Old Lady will climb back into Serie A this season, but what I do know is that the Bianconeri have cleaned up their image and are making friends wherever they play in the second division.

There was a time not too long ago when Juve was the team everyone loved to hate. And for good reason: They always seemed to win and always appeared to get some extra help from referees. The wins are still there, but they’re not getting any help from the refs. Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon and the rest of the team aren’t the villains of years past. They mostly resemble a rag-tag group of young players, veterans and a few World Cup winners trying to wipe out a 17-point deduction imposed on them for Moggi’s sins.

For once, Juventus is a club people across Italy – and the world -- are starting to like, dare I say, even root for. I found myself doing just that over the past few weeks. This is a team that has received a great deal of empathy from a great number of people around the world. Seeing Del Piero and Buffon tough it out in the toughest second division on the planet just two months after lifting the World Cup trophy is more than a bit humbling. Del Piero’s and Buffon’s loyalty to the team is unprecedented in modern sports, where money can lure a player anywhere and love for a team only lasts as long as the paychecks keep coming.

Juventus is also a team that is getting respect from its opponents even before the players take to the field. Once on it, Juve has shown that being humbled for a season, or more, may have done it some good as its tries to cleanse its image. Inter could, or could not, need some cleansing of its own. Hopefully, the truth will come out. In the meantime, Juventus seems to be basking in its newfound identity.