MILAN Juventus Coach Marcello Lippi took as Roma's Zdenek Zeman to task on Monday for his allegations of doping at the Serie A club. Zeman has been called before the doping commission of the Italian Olympic Committee on Tuesday and before a civil magistrate in Turin the day after for his allegations of drug use in Italian football. Zeman pointed the finger at Juventus, saying that he was amazed at the muscles on former and present stars Gianluca Vialli and Alessandro del Piero, before quarrelling with defender Ciro Ferrara. But Lippi hit back on Monday insisting: Every coach who has ever come to visit us has gone away saying how they wish their team could train like Juventus. People know very well who we are.

Just like they know full who the coach of AS Roma is and the kind of things he says from time to time. He's called into question Del Piero, Vialli, Ferrara people of the very greatest human, moral and professional qualities. I have worked with these people for years and I know them extremely well. How can the coach of AS Roma talk about them when he hasn't even spent one day with them? Before naming names he ought to think first, and think very hard about it.

Lippi, who was preparing his Italian champions for Monday night's away friendly against Newcastle United, saw only one positive aspect to the current drugs controversy. I'm used to trying to look on the positive side of things, and in this case I think these `stories' will make us even more motivated for the season ahead, he said. Zeman has been summoned to appear on Wednesday before state prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello, who has long been involved in public health issues and who is based in Juventus' home town of Turin. The legal basis for the summons is that the Czech coach may be someone informed of the facts of an alleged offence, which in this case could be the administering of substances which are a danger to public health.

(AFP)