Dark Past of Doping in Football.

 In a recent podcast discussion involving  Premier League legends Ian Wright, Roy Keane, and Gary Neville, big shots were fired  by the former Manchester United players. Keane and Neville really could have  sworn that they played against some teams who were not clean. “A couple  of Italian teams,” Keane specified.In their conversation, the pair seemed  pretty convinced that some of the teams they played against were doping. The  former Red Devils insisted that they were fit themselves – didn’t drink, smoke,  or do any of that stuff – but they’d finish a very intense game totally knackered  and exhausted, meanwhile their Italian opponents would be looking like they’re  ready to go on for another 90 minutes.This statement from the United Old Boys was sort  of corroborated by their former boss, Sir Alex Ferguson who said that the Red Devils should have enjoyed more European success during his tenure.Now, were these guys right about their assumptions or was it all just in their heads? Well, we can’t say for certain, but what we know is that doping has been a thing in the beautiful game for years now. Today, we want to look into the dark past of doping in football.

Doping in Football 

    Neville and Keane particularly mentioned Italian teams, and we’ll be honest, doping has been quite prevalent among teams from the Serie A. From the days of Diego Maradona  at Napoli down to Paul Pogba at Juventus; the Italian teams and their players never seem to be able to beat the allegations. A particular doctor was singled out in 2004 when he was working for Juventus. His name? Dr.Riccardo Agricola. He was tried and found guilty  of making performance-enhancement drugs available to players between 1994 and 1998. For this, he was  slapped with a 22-month suspended prison sentence.Now, guess how all this came to light. It was all because of one statement made  by the then coach of AS Roma. He  said “football needs to come out  of the pharmacy” and boom! Investigations started and Dr. Agricola was found out.So perhaps these statements from Roy Keane and Gary Neville could indeed lead to more stuff coming out about doping in football in the near future. And if more stuff does come out, we fear that one person who might  be found at the center of it all in the modern game could be Pep Guardiola. Now, we’re definitely not accusing him of  anything here, but just follow us. So, in 2001, Franck de Boer, while playing for Barcelona,   tested positive for nandrolone  and was issued a suspension. Immediately, all heads turned towards the doctor in charge of Barcelona’s nutrition, Dr. Ramon Segura. A man who was  known for his “magic shakes.” And guess what! Segura was also Pep Guardiola’s personal nutritionist even though the mdifielder had left Barcelona and was playing for Brescia in Italy at the time. Around the same time de Boer tested positive for nandrolone, Guardiola also tested positive for the banned  substance. He was suspended for four months, but was later cleared of all charges 8 years later.

     Now, that was two doping cases  on the doctor’s head in a year. That was certainly not a good look, and you’d think that his reputation would  be destroyed after that and nobody  would want to work with him, right? Wrong! When Pep Guardiola became head  coach of FC Barcelona in 2008, he specifically asked for Dr. Ramon Segura to be hired as the club’s nutritionist. Oh wow! Again, we’re not making accusations here, but  one could notice that there were significant  improvements in the performances  and even the physique of Barcelona  players. They would press hard and high all game and just would never get tired. And of course, the amount of success that team enjoyed under Pep Guardiola is no secret to anybody with the faintest idea of the game of football.Now, listen to this; the Spanish Football  Federation did not start conducting blood doping tests until 2013. The only way they were able to catch a doping case was via urine tests. Why is this interesting? Well, because blood tests are the only way to detect EPO or growth hormones. And when did Pep Guardiola leave Barcelona?  In 2012. Which means if there was indeed  anything fishy with that insane Pep-led  Barcelona team, we would never know. Damn! It gets even more interesting because, although the Spanish Football Federation hadn’t started doing blood tests at  the time, UEFA, on the other hand, was already conducting such tests back then.  But in 2010, some major players in Barcelona mysteriously missed a doping test. Lionel Messi, for example, suddenly appeared on the injury list and couldn’t be tested, but he somehow miraculously recovered the following day.

    Apart from their performances, one thing that  pointed to something being quite suspicious  

with that team was Lionel Messi himself. Before Pep joined, Messi suffered about 6 muscle injuries in two years, but in the four years when the Spanish boss was in charge, the Argentine superstar never for once suffered  a muscle injury. That’s not even all. After  Guardiola left the club, Messi suffered  his first muscle injury in 5 years in 2013. Now, the point of this post was certainly not to put the GOAT player and coach in front of the firing squad, and certainly  not to accuse anybody of anything; we’re just here to throw some light  on some things that might have gone and and may still be going on in the dark in the sport we all love. Did some people get enhanced  thanks to banned substances?  

Definitely. Were they all caught?  No. Should more light be shed on this so that we can put a permanent end to doping in football? Certainly. Now, on that note, if you know of any more  suspicious cases from the past or even from recent times, share them with us in the  comments. Whether it’s just a haunch of  yours or there’s hard evidence to back it  up, we don’t care. We want to hear it all.That’s it for today, Catch you in the next one. Bye!

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