Benevento president Oreste Vigorito has claimed that a cream used to treat a wound caused the club's captain Fabio Lucioni to fail a drugs test.
The 29-year-old returned a positive sample for banned anabolic steroid clostebol following his side's 1-0 Serie A defeat to Torino on September 10 and faces a lengthy ban.
However, the club have protested their player's innocence, saying Lucioni was using a medically prescribed ointment.
"The blame lies with a cream to heal a wound," Vigorito told Sky Sport Italia.
"You can't talk about doping. After a graze in training, the doctor prescribed him the cream that is normally sold in a chemist and thus can't be the basis of a doping charge.
"When you talk about these things, you have to understand if they really are mistakes.
"Here's simply a guy who has followed a medical prescription. However, we'll accept the ruling, like we've always done."
