Juventus midfielder Nicolo Fagioli, banned by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) after breaching rules on betting on matches, has apologised to football fans and spoken of lies published about him, in a social media post on Wednesday.

Fagioli was given a 12-month ban, of which five months were suspended, and fined 13,225 USD (Rs 10.98 lakh) on Tuesday. He has also agreed to a treatment programme for gambling problems.

“I thought I would begin by apologising not only to Juventus fans but to all fans in the world of football and sport for the naive mistake I made,” Fagioli said on his Instagram account.

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“Instead, I’m forced to start with the disgusting things that newspapers and people write about me, just to put me in a bad light with a thousand lies, or rather, just to gain two more views.”

For now, the 22-year-old has not gone into any further details but ended his social media post by saying that he will speak soon.

Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo left the national team’s headquarters last week after they were also told they were involved in an investigation by prosecutors.