The scale of the match-fixing crisis in Italy was made clear as the national coach, Cesare Prandelli, said he would have "no problem" if the national team were withdrawn from Euro 2012, nine days before their opening fixture against Spain.

The Italy manager was speaking at the end of a week which has seen police make 19 arrests, including the Lazio captain Stefano Mauri, while Prandelli dropped Domenico Criscito from his squad for the Euros after the Zenit St Petersburg defender was questioned at the training camp.

Those events led the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, to suggest the game in Italy would benefit from being suspended for "two to three years" to root out the problem once and for all. But the scandal has continued to spread with the lawyer for the Italy goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon, forced to leap to the defence of his client amid further claims.

With confidence in Italian football now severely shaken, Prandelli seemed to echo the sentiments of Monti and others in suggesting that cleaning up the game is "more important" than carrying on as normal.

"If you told us that for the good of football we should not participate, it wouldn't be a problem for me," Prandelli told RaiSport. "There are things that I believe are more important. I dislike crusades. I prefer to face up to things and not take positions without considering the consequences."

Prandelli was speaking after Buffon's lawyer appeared on television to reject claims about the Juventus veteran, who is not under investigation by the police. Marco Valerio Corini told SkyTG24 television: "There is nothing which could even carry the faintest suggestion of a connection between Gianluigi Buffon and any betting activity that would concern him in any irregularity either with respect to federation rules or criminal law. There is not the slightest foundation for any suggestion that this is connected with a bet."