Post by Salem6 on Jan 28, 2004 9:51:53 GMT
TURIN: Former Italy international Gianluca Vialli hit out on Monday at an investigation into whether Juventus managers administered banned drugs, saying players were being made to feel they had something to hide.
“Various football players have come (to this trial) and have felt they were being treated almost as though they were guilty, as if they had something to hide,” Vialli told prosecutors during a hearing in Turin.
Former Chelsea manager Vialli was joined in court by World Footballer of the Year Zinedine Zidane (pic) who reiterated that he had taken the legal performance-enhancing drug creatine while at Juventus.
Juventus general manager Antonio Giraudo and club doctor Riccardo Agricola are accused of administering banned drugs to players between 1994 and 1998. Both have denied the allegations.
“I only took creatine at Juventus. I didn’t take it before in France nor do I take it now in Spain,” Zidane told the trial which started in January 2002.
Zidane said he had also taken iron and vitamins at Juventus, sometimes intravenously.
“They’re useful if you’re playing 70 matches a year,” he said.
Zidane, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, played for Juventus from 1996 until 2001 when he joined Real Madrid. Last year he told a newspaper he had taken creatine at Juventus.
Creatine is an amino acid which occurs naturally in the body and plays a key role in muscle contraction. It is not on the IOC list of banned drugs but its use is outlawed by some federations and various players and coaches say it should be banned.
In the past, Agricola has said there is public confusion as to whether creatine, vitamins and amino acids are legal but that it would be “a crime not to use them because the body needs to regain equilibrium after heavy exercise”.
In October, an Italian pharmacologist told the trial that Juventus had a store containing 281 medicines with at least five prohibited anti-inflammatory drugs.
A number of past and present Juventus players have already appeared as witnesses in the case, including former European Player of the Year Roberto Baggio, AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi and current Juve defender, Uruguayan Paolo Montero.
Vialli was a key part of Juve’s 1996 European Cup winning team before moving to Chelsea and he is now a television commentator in Italy.
If found guilty, Giraudo and Agricola could face six to eight months in prison. – Reuters
www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/1/28/sports/7189927&sec=sports
“Various football players have come (to this trial) and have felt they were being treated almost as though they were guilty, as if they had something to hide,” Vialli told prosecutors during a hearing in Turin.
Former Chelsea manager Vialli was joined in court by World Footballer of the Year Zinedine Zidane (pic) who reiterated that he had taken the legal performance-enhancing drug creatine while at Juventus.
Juventus general manager Antonio Giraudo and club doctor Riccardo Agricola are accused of administering banned drugs to players between 1994 and 1998. Both have denied the allegations.
“I only took creatine at Juventus. I didn’t take it before in France nor do I take it now in Spain,” Zidane told the trial which started in January 2002.
Zidane said he had also taken iron and vitamins at Juventus, sometimes intravenously.
“They’re useful if you’re playing 70 matches a year,” he said.
Zidane, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, played for Juventus from 1996 until 2001 when he joined Real Madrid. Last year he told a newspaper he had taken creatine at Juventus.
Creatine is an amino acid which occurs naturally in the body and plays a key role in muscle contraction. It is not on the IOC list of banned drugs but its use is outlawed by some federations and various players and coaches say it should be banned.
In the past, Agricola has said there is public confusion as to whether creatine, vitamins and amino acids are legal but that it would be “a crime not to use them because the body needs to regain equilibrium after heavy exercise”.
In October, an Italian pharmacologist told the trial that Juventus had a store containing 281 medicines with at least five prohibited anti-inflammatory drugs.
A number of past and present Juventus players have already appeared as witnesses in the case, including former European Player of the Year Roberto Baggio, AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi and current Juve defender, Uruguayan Paolo Montero.
Vialli was a key part of Juve’s 1996 European Cup winning team before moving to Chelsea and he is now a television commentator in Italy.
If found guilty, Giraudo and Agricola could face six to eight months in prison. – Reuters
www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/1/28/sports/7189927&sec=sports