Azzurri sour grapes

Italy cried foul today as they exited Euro 2004 amid protests that they had been the victim of a great Scandinavian sting.

Azzurri players, former stars and even the country's football president were left angrily pointing fingers at Sweden and Denmark, believing there was a conspiracy after the two neighbours battled to a 2-2 draw, the one result guaranteed to secure both teams' qualification for the quarterfinals at Italy's expense.

Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon suggested the Nordic neighbours should be "ashamed" while their Football Association president Franco Carraro said: "There is no doubt that the way the Denmark-Sweden game developed shows that the two teams were aiming for a draw. Of course, proof of that is hard to find."

Yet the Italians' suggestions of conspiracy looked set to lead to a major row with the Scandinavians, who angrily retorted today that there was no fix. "There's no way you could arrange that scoreline - not even Steven Spielberg could write a script like that," said Sweden's Henrik Larsson.

On an amazing night, some Italian players believed they had secured qualification with a stoppage-time goal from Antonio Cassano which gave them a 2-1 win over Bulgaria in Guimaraes. Yet, unknown to them, Sweden's Mattias Jonson had minutes earlier secured an 89thminute equaliser for Sweden against Denmark in Porto to provide the 2-2 scoreline Italy had dreaded.

"When you talk for days about a result - a 2-2 result not just a draw - and it comes out like this, well I'm very surprised," said Buffon, referring to the days of speculation in the Italian media that they might collude. "Someone should be ashamed and it is not us. All those who talk about fair play and sporting values should open their eyes."