After former Ajax press officer and player David Endt made doping allegations against Juventus’ 1996 Champions League winners, several players of that period have came out angrily against him.
The sides have been paired together once more in the quarter-final of this year’s edition of the competition, 23 years after the Bianconeri were victorious in the final on the occasion of their last success in the continent’s premier club tournament.
Endt stoked up controversy in looking ahead to the game by claiming that ‘Juventus were a bit doped’ at that time and unsurprisingly, a backlash hasn’t been long in forthcoming for him.
“I read the words of the famous David Endt and he should be ashamed. From the first day of pre-season, we worked hard to bring the cup back to Turin and did it with effort and determination,” said Alessio Tacchinardi, who was on the field that night.
“We succeeded on merit through sacrifice and now I hope that the Juve players have a further incentive to eliminate them for the umpteenth time. Once again, shame on you Endt!”
Moreno Torricelli was a little more composed as he shared his thoughts on the accusations made by the Dutchman, which he attempted to shrug off.
“It simply makes you smile. Certain words should be left behind. After the game against Ajax, there were anti-doping controls and nothing was found on them,” he stated. “Juventus will grow even more for the challenge.”
Ciro Ferrara was another man unhappy to hear the slur against the squad and intimated that Endt himself may actually have had something to do with Juventus winning the trophy, given a slight failing in his role at that time as press officer.
“I don’t want to enter into this controversy but perhaps as the man in charge of media and communications for Ajax, he helped us win that cup,” he told Sport Mediaset.
“A few days before the game took place, their coach Louis van Gaal was asked who would win the Champions League and he replied ‘I don’t know who will win but I know that the cup will be on our plane afterwards’.
“Someone who was the press officer should have known that those words would make us angry enough as it was.”
