Roberto Carlos accused of using stimulants to increase thigh muscle

A document published by German broadcaster ARD claims that the Brazilian legend has been involved in doping since the age of 15.

In a multi-year investigation into doping in Brazilian sports led by journalist Hajo Seppelt of German radio station ARD, reporters obtained banned substances such as steroids (muscle-enhancing) and EPO (increasing red blood cell count) from doctor Julio Cesar Alves, who is believed to have supplied addictive substances to dozens of samba sports stars for more than a decade.

Marco Aurelio Klein, head of Brazil's anti-doping agency, said that as of 2015, a detailed dossier documenting the athletes' identities and their visits to Dr. Alves had been handed over to prosecutors.

Roberto Carlos accused of doping at the 2002 World Cup

Among the documents, according to ARD, is Roberto Carlos, a three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid and the 2002 World Cup winner with Brazil. He was reported to have seen Dr Alves in July 2002, a few weeks after the World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

In the ARD report, Dr. Alves stated: "I treated Carlos. He came to me when he was 15 years old. He was a clever boy who wanted to develop his thigh muscles to an excessive size. It was I who helped Carlos get the thighs he has today."

As soon as he learned of his involvement in the Brazilian sports scandal, Roberto Carlos avoided the media, including refusing to be interviewed at the time of the 2017 Champions League final in Cardiff.

*The free kick against the French team in the 1997 Four Nations Cup made Roberto Carlos' name.

On June 11, two days after the documentary "The First Secret of Doping: Brazil's Dirty Game" byHajo Seppelt was broadcast on ARD, Roberto Carlos just spoke officially on the newspaperBrazil's Globo Esporteabout the incident.

He confided: "Throughout my 20-year career, I have always defended clean football matches.I strongly deny ARD's irresponsible allegations and reaffirm that I have never used any banned substances to gain an advantage over my colleagues.".

"This document cites the name of a doctor I have never heard of," Carlos declared. "My lawyers will ask the people who created it to testify before a judge."

*10 best goals of Roberto Carlos' career

"They only vaguely said that I was seen in a doctor's office in July 2002, when I returned to Brazil after the World Cup. I confirm that I did not go there.Piracicaba. I'm back.Brasilia attended the award ceremony and returned to Madrid shortly afterwards. In addition, the report does not provide any evidence of my involvement in this case," the 44-year-old player argued.

Carlos, who played for nine clubs in Brazil, Italy, Spain, Türkiye, Russia and India, questioned: "I played in many different tournaments, including the World Cup, where the use of any banned substance was detected in time. And now I'm being detected?"

According to VNE