Former Inter coach Luigi Simoni says Juventus should be stripped of the league titles they won in the 1990’s if the doping charges against their club doctor are upheld.
Juventus club doctor Riccardo Agricola was found guilty of administering banned substances between 1994 and 1998.
Simoni was coach of the Inter side who finished runners-up to Juventus in 1998.
“I think if that sentence is confirmed, then the Italian Football Federation should take action,” Simoni told the magazine Espresso in an interview to be published on Friday.
“They should take away the titles won by Juventus in that period. I finished second with Inter in 1998 and now I discover that maybe we weren’t playing on equal terms.”
“I hope that Juventus are cleared on appeal,” he added.
But if Agricola’s guilt was confirmed, said Simoni, thenit would be hard to believe that others within the club were unaware of his actions.
“It would be difficult, very difficult, to think that he did everything alone and that at his club, Juventus, no-one knew the players were being boosted with illegal medicine,” said Simoni.
During the period under investigation, Juventus won two other league titles as well as the 1996 European Cup.
“Even if the sentence becomes definitive, the Federation would never have the courage to take a title off Juventus.”
On Wednesday, Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Franco Carraro stressed that the ruling was against a Juventus club doctor and not the club.
“Juventus have not been found guilty of doping. In the five years examined their players were tested and none of them resulted positive,” said Carraro.
