Zidane to testify in Juventus doping trial

Real Madrid star Zinedine Zidane arrived at court to testify in the Juventus doping trial.

Two Juve officials are on trial over charges relating to the doping of players from the club over a four-year period in the 1990s.

The Frenchman, FIFA World Player of the Year, was escorted into court by policemen. He was accompanied by former Juventus and Chelsea star Gianluca Vialli.

The prosecution alleges that Juventus managing director Antonio Giraudo and club doctor Riccardo Agricola supplied pharmaceutical products to several of the club's players between July 1994 and September 1998.

It is charged that, while the drugs in question were legal, they had been used in such a manner that essentially produced the same effects as illicit substances.

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

Zidane, former France captain Didier Deschamps and Italian star Alessandro Del Piero are all under suspicion of being given illegal substances by club doctors.

Zidane played for Juventus from 1996 to 2001.

Two weeks ago Juventus defender Paolo Montero, who joined the club in 1996, admitted to having been given the muscle growth supplement creatine, soon after arriving in Turin.

Agricola has insisted many other clubs have also given their players substances such as creatine.

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.

Vialli has already admitted Agricola regularly administered substances for which there was no justification.