Italian soccer was rocked by a report...

Italian soccer was rocked by a report that the Italian Soccer Federation had accused Senator Dino Viola, the president of Roma, of trying to bribe a referee before a European Champion’s Cup semifinal game two years ago.

Viola, a Christian Democrat senator, admitted paying $60,000 ($100 million lire) to help “soften up” French referee Michel Vautrot before Roma’s second leg match with Scotland’s Dundee United.

Roma won the April, 1984, match, 3-0, to advance, 3-2, on aggregate into the final. Roma lost to English champion Liverpool on penalties in the final.

The federation’s head of investigations, Corrado De Biase, said Viola paid the money to Spartaco Landini, director of soccer club Genoa.

Landini admitted his responsibility but claims that he never knew Vautrot and that he tricked Viola by not paying the referee until after the game.

Reacting to the news, Roma’s captain Bruno Conti said: “The referee annulled a goal of mine just after the game started. They must not try and sully one of the most beautiful pages in Roma’s history.”