Silvio Berlusconi, the outspoken former Italian Prime Minister and owner of AC Milan, expressed his outrage at UEFA’s condemnation of his club for its involvement in the Italian match-fixing scandal. Before reluctantly clearing the way for Milan to compete in next season’s Champions League, UEFA’s emergency panel issued a harsh statement accusing the club of “damaging” European soccer. The panel said it lacked the “legal grounds” to refuse Milan’s entry into the Champions League, citing that as the primary reason it was letting the club proceed. Berlusconi responded by saying: “I can’t believe UEFA has written that Milan has damaged European soccer. It seems absurd to me.” Milan, one of the four clubs found guilty by the Italian Soccer Federation of sporting fraud, received the lightest penalty of all for its involvement in the ring: an eight-point penalty to start next season. Berlusconi added that Milan should have been awarded the 2005 and 2006 scudetto titles after Juventus, the center of the scandal, had its awards stripped. Last season’s title instead headed to cross-town rival Inter, while no winner was announced for 2005.