 Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 1995–96 UEFA Champions League | ||||||
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| Afterextra time Juventus won 4–2 onpenalties | |||||||
| Date | 22 May 1996 | ||||||
| Venue | Stadio Olimpico,Rome | ||||||
| Referee | Manuel Díaz Vega (Spain) | ||||||
| Attendance | 70,000[1] | ||||||
←1995 1997 → | |||||||
The1996 UEFA Champions League final was afootball match played on 22 May 1996 betweenAjax of the Netherlands andJuventus of Italy. The match ended in a 1–1 draw after extra time, forcing a penalty shoot-out, which Juventus won 4–2.[2] It was the club's second triumph in the competition.
 Ajax | Round |  Juventus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opponent | Result | Group stage | Opponent | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Real Madrid | 1–0 (H) | Matchday 1 |  Borussia Dortmund | 3–1 (A) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Ferencváros | 5–1 (A) | Matchday 2 |  Steaua București | 3–0 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Grasshopper | 3–0 (H) | Matchday 3 |  Rangers | 4–1 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grasshopper | 0–0 (A) | Matchday 4 | Rangers | 4–0 (A) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Real Madrid | 2–0 (A) | Matchday 5 | Borussia Dortmund | 1–2 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ferencváros | 4–0 (H) | Matchday 6 | Steaua București | 0–0 (A) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group D winner
Source:UEFA | Final standings | Group C winner
Source:UEFA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Knockout phase | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Borussia Dortmund | 3–0 | 2–0 (A) | 1–0 (H) | Quarter-finals | Real Madrid | 2–1 | 0–1 (A) | 2–0 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Panathinaikos | 3–1 | 0–1 (H) | 3–0 (A) | Semi-finals |  Nantes | 4–3 | 2–0 (H) | 2–3 (A) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
         Ajax |     Juventus |
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Linesmen: |
Although Juventus won the 1996 Champions League final, the victory remains controversial because of accusations ofdoping.[3][4] The Juventus team has been accused of usingerythropoietin (EPO) and the matter went to trial in 2004.[5] In November 2004, club doctor Riccardo Agricola was given a 22-month prison sentence and fined €2,000 for sporting fraud by providing performance-enhancing drugs, specifically EPO, to players between 1994 and 1998,[6][7] Leading hematologist Giuseppe d'Onofrio said that it was "practically certain" that midfieldersAntonio Conte andAlessio Tacchinardi had taken EPO to overcome brief bouts ofanemia, and that it was "very probable" that seven other players –Alessandro Birindelli,Alessandro Del Piero,Didier Deschamps,Dimas,Paolo Montero,Gianluca Pessotto andMoreno Torricelli – had taken EPO in small doses.[8]
In April 2005, theCourt of Arbitration for Sport gave the following advisory opinion, in part: "The use of pharmaceutical substances which are not expressly prohibited by sports law, and which cannot be considered as substances similar or related to those expressly prohibited, is not to be sanctioned by disciplinary measures. However, regardless of the existence or not of any judgement rendered by a State court, sports authorities are under the obligation to prosecute the use of pharmaceutical substances which are prohibited by sports law or any other anti-doping rule violation in order to adopt disciplinary measures."[9] In December 2005, Agricola was acquitted of the charges by Turin's court of appeal.[10] In March 2007, in the final verdict by theSupreme Court of Cassation, stated that "in the years of 1994 to 1998 there was no ascertained positive case of doping substances by Juventus players, that the purchase of erythropoietin or its administration to the athletes of the club does not emerge from any act of the trial, and that the same expert had identified the possibility of an administration of erythropoietin in distant terms from the sure evidence ("very probable" and in two cases "practically certain"): it is that therefore, the judgement of probability and not of certainty, did not allow for a statement of responsibility."[11] The verdict also went on to say: "In response to the conclusion taken, the territorial court notes that there were no deferred values higher than the limits set in the various antidoping protocols and that the situation of the Juventus players, both with reference to the average hematological values, and in relation to that of material balance, did not differ from the national average population.[11]
