Reserve team coach Pep Guardiola has finally been declared innocent of doping. A seven months suspended sentence that he received in 2005 has been quashed. In 2001 Guardiola was found guilty of using Nandrolene while he was playing for Brescia in the Italian league. He was banned from playing for 4 months and fined 50,000 euros though he always insisted on his innocence. He became the first footballer to face prosecution under an Italian law passed in 2000 which made doping a criminal offence.

Guardiola who was present today at the court of appeal in Brescia, showed his satisfaction after the verdict, “Finally, after six years, the book is closed.”