Masiello cannot get his story straight, insists Bonucci's lawyer

The lawyer of Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci has hit out at Atalanta right-back Andrea Masiello, claiming that he is forever changing his claims in the ongoing investigation into match-fixing in Italian football.

The 25-year-old Italy international is facing a ban of three years and six months after he was deemed to have allegedly played a part in fixing two games while on the books of the Bari, alongside the full-back, in 2009-10.

But his legal representative has swiftly stepped in to discredit the claims made in Masiello's testifying statements, claiming they are riddled with contradictions with regards to key events.

"Masiello contradicts himself so much as he tries to make his version of events more useful to the prosecutor," Gian Pietro Bianchi was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport. "We don't even know what role Bonucci played here anymore."

"The prosecutor claims Masiello's changing testimony is 'progressively enriched', when in actuality it is rather a progressive climax towards illogicality.

"Masiello has already spoken twice, but not once did he bring up the Udinese-Bari match. Even here, he cannot get his story straight. Evidently, something doesn't fit here, there are illogical discrepancies."

Meanwhile, Bonucci's Bianconeri team-mate Simone Pepe has also been implicated, with the winger accused of not reporting an attempted fix to the relevant authorities.

But he has decided not to accept a plea bargain proposal, which would have seen him banned for one year.

"That option becomes difficult when facing such a long ban. You can negotiate when it's about three months, but not more than that," clarified lawyer Luigi Chiappero.

Juve coach Antonio Conte has also been implicated in ongoing investigations, and could face a 15-month ban.