A furious Nicos Dabizas today accused Alessandro Del Piero of diving as the Juventus skipper got the two goals in last night's 2-0 Champions' League victory over Newcastle United in Turin.

While Alan Shearer was fuming that he had what looked to be a perfectly good equaliser wrongly ruled out, Dabizas was angry at Del Piero's part in the vital opening goal before the Italian superstar drilled in a superb free-kick.

And, to add insult to injury for Dabizas, he was booked and will miss the return between the two sides at St James's Park on October 23.

No wonder Dabizas raged today: "He definitely dived. I never touched him and he went to the ground very easily.

"I think the referee made a bad decision which cost us the game.

"I don't think I made any contact with Del Piero. If I did it was was only very slight. I did not pull his shirt or push him. It was a bad decision.

"Before the competition we knew we would get different decisions than we do in the Premiership.

"And the officials admit they made a mistake over the goal Alan Shearer scored - but what can you do?

"We have lost a crucial game because of a couple of very bad decisions from the match officials.

"We had the chances to score ourselves but could not manage to grind a goal out."

United have exactly three weeks to think about their rather hopeless situation at the bottom of Group E where they are without a point and without a goal.

But when Juventus arrive at St James's Park on October 23 Dabizas will have to watch the game from the stands.

His booking for that challenge on Del Piero was his third yellow card in the competition and he now picks up an automatic one-match ban.

Evening Chronicle