Alessandro Del Piero explains why he didn't leave Juventus after Calciopoli scandal

Juventus and soccer icon Alessandro Del Piero opened up about his past at Juventus and how close he was to leaving his beloved club when the Calciopoli Scandal became public. The comments came in the latest episode of Kickin' It, CBS Sports Golazo Network's weekly interview series hosted by Kate Abdo. 

The Calciopoli Scandal was a big thunderstorm that affected Italian soccer and some of the biggest clubs in the summer 2006, a few weeks before Italy won the 2006 World Cup against France in the Berlin final. Juventus was probably the biggest club involved as the Bianconeri were later relegated to the Italian second division after proof emerged of clubs who were selecting favorable referees for their own matches. Juventus saw their 2004-05 and 2005-06 titles stripped as a result.

"I was the captain at that time. [My salary was chopped,] but I felt completely different. I felt to stay," he said. "When the owner called me I say, 'Don't need to ask me. I'm going to stay.' I know what's going on, I know we are going get relegated maybe at third division, at the beginning was third division, and I say, 'I don't care.' I mean we won everything and we're going come back to win everything again."

Juventus were relegated to the second division, and multiple players such as Fabio Cannavaro, Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic decided to leave the Bianconeri that summer, while others like Pavel Nedved, Gianluigi Buffon and Del Piero decided to stay despite the relegation. 

Del Piero played for Juve from 1993 until 2012, scoring 208 goals in 513 matches. Be won the Serie A six times, he won a Coppa Italia, four Supercoppa Italiana, a Champions League, a UEFA Super Cup and more at the club.