Old Lady to go down?

Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio will all be demoted to Serie B for their roles in the Calciopoli scandal that has tarnished Italian football, according to today's Gazzetta dello Sport.

The verdict of the long-running trial will not be officially revealed until 6pm this evening, but the newspaper claimed to already know the punishments that will be dished out.

"The verdict will be this: Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio will be relegated to Serie B," claimed the Gazzetta confidently. "AC Milan will stay in Serie A but will not be allowed to take part in the Champions League."

Without disclosing its source, the newspaper went on to insist it even knew the point deductions that each club would receive. Juventus, it said, will begin their Serie B campaign on minus 20 points, while Fiorentina will be penalised 10 and Lazio six or seven. Milan, meanwhile, will be docked 10 to 15 points.

After the verdict is formally announced tonight, the teams will have three days to appeal to a federal court of arbitration; a final decision must be reached by July 24.

The confirmation that three of the clubs are to be relegated is likely to spark a feeding frenzy as Europe's biggest teams close in to snatch talents such as Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta and Gianluigi Buffon from Juventus and last season's Serie A top-scorer, Luca Toni, from Fiorentina.