Del Piero Says Muscles Came From Hard Work
Copyright � 1998 Nando.net
Copyright � 1998 Reuters
TURIN, Italy (Aug 14, 1998 - 13:48 EDT) - Juventus ace Alessandro Del Piero insisted Friday that his muscles were down to hard work, and said he was handing doping allegations made by AS Roma coach Zdenek Zeman over to his lawyers.
Del Piero spoke after a morning session with Turin state prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello, following Zeman's expressed amazement at the muscle development on the Juventus striker.
"My physical shape is exclusively the result of the hard work I have been put through over the years," he said.
"Being brought into all this has been annoying, but it has done nothing to affect my concentration.
"Now it is down to my lawyers to take action against the person who has defamed me."
As for his audition with Guariniello, Del Piero said it was purely informative.
"The meeting with the magistrate took place in a very relaxed atmosphere," said the 23-year-old.
Del Piero said he had recounted the various stages of his career as a footballer, from his early days with Padova to the last five years with Juventus, and including his spells with the national side.
He also gave details of his daily training programme.
"Like all professionals, my training is monitored by the club and its medical staff, who obviously check what I do and who intervene in a correct and perfectly legitimate way," he said.
Guariniello also asked the Juventus ace whether he was aware of any drug use in Italian soccer.
"I made it clear to him that I didn't know anything about athletes being doped or abusing medicines, as has recently been suggested," he told ANSA news agency.
