Soccer: Giuseppe Rossi risks 1-yr doping ban - sources

(ANSA) - Rome, September 25 - Sporting prosecutors have requested that a tribunal ban former Italy striker Giuseppe Rossi for one year in a doping case, ANSA sources said Tuesday.
    The 31-year-old tested positive for a substance that is allowed only in one specific case after playing for Genoa in a 1-0 defeat at Benevento in Serie A last season, the sources said.
    When asked about the positive test by anti-doping agency Nado Italia, Rossi allegedly failed to give an adequate explanation as to why the substance was in his system.
    United States-born Rossi was long considered one of Italian football's top prospects, but his career has been hampered by a long series of injuries.
    The former Parma, Villarreal and Fiorentina forward is a free agent after parting company with Genoa at the end of last season.
    Genoa coach Davide Ballardini said: "I don't have many certainties in life but one if that Giuseppe Rossi can't have used banned substances.
    "And I'm certain that Rossi didn't".
    Rossi himself said "I have always been clean, this is a clear case to be shelved: the positive test if due to an involuntary food contamination".