Guardiola protests innocence

Barcelona legend Pep Guardiola has vowed to prove his innocence after an Italian court sentenced him to a seven-month jail sentence for doping.

Guardiola, 34, who now plays in Qatar, was condemned by a court in Brescia as the first victim of Italy’s anti-doping law 376, which was introduced in 2000.

Under Italian law, he will not serve any actual prison time as it is a first offence and the term is of less than two years.

The case relates to the positive test for Nandrolone he gave in October 2002, while playing for Brescia.

Guardiola served a four-month suspension for his positive test, but always protested his innocence, travelling to several European laboratories in an attempt to prove his case.

The 47-times Spain international said: “I will appeal as far as is necessary and in the end I will clear my name. I will continue to the end because I don’t want my name and my career to carry this stain.”

Meanwhile, Guardiola’s lawyer Tommaso Marchese is shocked by the verdict.

Marchese said: “They have used Pep because he is a big name in football to set an example.

“What has happened is incredible because we have produced all kinds of proof to show his innocence, while the prosecution have produced nothing, they have only presented their lab results from Rome. It is totally unjust,” he said.