German publication Der Spiegel has claimed that UEFA deemed a positive doping test of Sergio Ramos back in 2017 just after the UEFA Champions League final, as an administrative mistake. The Los Blancos has denied accusations on their captain that he failed a doping test after their UEFA Champions League victory over Italian giants, Juventus in Cardiff. real Madrid claim that the issue was an administrative mistake from their side after the doctor failed to disclose the pre-match injection of a banned substance.
The reigning Champions League winner for the past three editions also said in a statement: “In relation to the information published by Der Spiegel referring to our captain Sergio Ramos, the club states the following:
1. Sergio Ramos has never breached the anti-doping control regulations.
2. UEFA requested timely information and closed the matter immediately, as is usual in these cases, after verification by the experts themselves of the World Anti-Doping Agency, AMA, and of UEFA itself.
3. Regarding the rest of the content of the aforementioned publication, the club does not pronounce itself before the evidence of its insubstantial nature.”
The Spanish defender has been examined to be positive for dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid drug that is only permitted if any of the doctors reports its administration, as per the German publication’s leaks suggest.
The story revolves around Ramos and the fact that the Spaniard’s medical reports had no mention of dexamethasone, instead filing that the defender had received an injection of betamethasone in both his shoulders and knee. Betamethasone is also another substance banned by WADA if not mentioned by a doctor.
After holding investigation regarding the matter, UEFA cam eto a conclusion that it was a mistake made by the doctor and deemed it as human error and a minor administrative mistake from the club’s side.
Der Spiegel, on the other hand, reports that Real Madrid interfered with a random doping test of ten of their players back in February 2017. Clubs are always suggested that the doping officers who visit the clubs to take tests should be allowed to work independently and without any difficulty but UEFA reported internally that the Real’s medical staff took samples for several tests. This was accepted by the officers only because of Cristiano Ronaldo who created a fuss about being tested and made lives difficult for the doping officers.
The German publication does not end there as they did not shy away from putting another allegation on Sergio Ramos, that the Spaniard disrespected the instructions of an anti-doping officer to give the sample before going to the shower. Obstruction of doping controlling process is considered a serious offence that can put the Spain international on an astonishing four-year ban from the sport.
The Real Madrid captain has been surrounded with controversies in the last few months starting with the 2018 UEFA Champions League final where his clash with the Liverpool star Mohammed Salah saw the latter end up with a dislocated shoulder and in a recent incident he had an ugly scuff with a Viktoria Plzen player leaving him with a bloody nose.
The 3-0 loss to Eibar would have really hurt Los Blancos now, who were slowly getting back to form under Solari. It will have also overshadowed these instances for the time being with regards to the media, though justice will surely be served.
