Juve Chief Vows To Clear Club's Name
Thursday 31st January 2002
Juventus president Vittorio Caissoti di Chiusano has claimed that the Turin giants will be exonerated once and for all by the outcome of the trial which follows allegations of drugs taking within the club.
Managing director Antonio Giraudo and club doctor Riccardo stand charged of alleged doping offences committed between July 1994 and September 1998 - a period in which Juventus lifted three Italian titles as well as winning the 1996 European Cup.
The charges were brought after the then Roma coach Zdenek Zeman claimed that doping was widespread in Serie A.
He cited Juventus as a prime example, making reference in particular to the sudden development in the physiques of Gianluca Vialli and Alessandro Del Piero.
However, Chiusano denied that the club had performed anything illegal claiming the players only used products widely available to anyone involved in sport.
"No Juventus players have ever taken drugs," said Chiusano, who initially called for the case to dropped due to insufficient test results from the period in question.
He, however, went on to welcome the trial as giving the club "the power to defend" themselves.
"The allegations aren't in fact about doping but the distribution of authorised products that could have had the effects of doping.
"We have, among other things, used creatine which can have beneficial effects, that we have never denied," he went on. "Everyone in Italy takes creatine."
The trial, being dubbed the "mother of all battles against doping", could see a number of past and present Serie A players, including Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, Christian Vieri and Ronaldo, being called upon to give evidence.
French midfielder Zidane, who joined Real Madrid for a world-record �48 million last summer, has already admitted using the energy-enhancing supplement creatine during his time at Juventus.
Last season, the team's Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids failed a random drug tests, testing positive for high levels of a banned steroid.
