Zidane to miss Juventus doping trial

TURIN, Italy, Dec 18 (AFP) – Former Juventus stars were to testify Friday at a doping trial in Turin of the Italian giants but Real Madrid’s World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane was excused the hearing.

Turin prosecutors said strikers Filippo Inzaghi and Roberto Baggio and goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi had been called to testify.

Expert witnesses at last month’s hearing claimed the players’ red blood cell count indicated they were using the endurance-enhancer EPO.

Zidane, former France captain Didier Deschamps and Italian star Alessandro Del Piero are all under suspicion of being given illegal substances by club doctors between July 1994 and September 1998, the most successful period in the Italian team’s history.

Over that period, Juventus won three Italian league titles and the European Cup.

Zidane played for Juventus from 1996 to 2001.

Former Juventus striker Gianluca Vialli has already admitted the club doctor regularly administered substances for which there was no justification.

Juventus director Antonio Giraudo and club doctor Riccardo Agricola stand accused of breaching Italy’s sporting fraud laws. The players are not facing any charges.

The scandal broke in 1998 when Czech coach Zdenek Zeman, then in charge of Roma, called on the authorities to clean drug cheats out of Italian soccer, aiming his accusations at Juventus.

 © AFP

                                                                Subject: France news