Liverpool FC Forum

by **the great one** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 2:09 am

MILAN -- The head of the Italian player's union says he does not believe that there are any footballers in Italy or the rest of the world who have knowingly taken performance enhancing drugs.
Juventus club doctor Riccardo Agricola was last week given a 22-month jail sentence for administering banned drugs, including the blood-booster EPO, to players during the period 1994-98.

Juventus CEO Antonio Giraudo was found not guilty of charges of 'sporting fraud' and the club plan to appeal against Agricola's sentence.

"I don't believe there is a player in the world that knowingly takes illegal substances because they know they would risk their career and face punishment," Sergio Campana, president of the Association of Italian Footballers (AIC), told the news agency ANSA.

Several former and present Juventus players testified during the court case and all denied knowingly taking illegal substances.

"I believe that the Juventus players who testified told the court what they know and therefore acted in good faith," said Campana. "I have to say that no player has ever, even in private, confessed to me that he has taken anything."

In recent seasons several Serie A players have tested positive for banned performance enhancing substances.

Among the big names suspended from the game were Dutch internationals Jaap Stam and Edgar Davids, now with AC Milan and Inter Milan, who received bans after testing positive for nandrolone while at Lazio and Juventus respectively.

Current Juventus midfielder Manuele Blasi tested positive for norandrosterone while on loan at Parma last year, and Lazio's Portuguese defender Fernando Couto was also banned.

In all cases the players protested their innocence.

your throughts? the likes of zidane,baggio and del piero were given drugs in 1996 when they were very sucessful did they win cus they were on drugs ? or did they win cus they were better than the oppistion

by **LFC #1** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 2:15 am

Zidane, Baggio and Del Piero were all lcass acts at that time, so they probaly would have won without drugs. It seems they were unaware of it also.

Serie A has a lot of problems though with a lot of clubs in major financial difficulty, as well as things like this.

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