Premier League
CRYSTAL PALACE’S MAMADOU SAKHO SUES WADA OVER ‘DRUG TEST BLUNDER’
Mamadou Sakho of English Premiership side, Crystal Palace is suing the world anti-doping agency for £13 million claiming a drug-test blunder torpedoed his career at Liverpool.
Sakho, 29, was suspended from football in April 2016 after testing positive for a fat-burning substance following a Europa League tie with Manchester United.
The provisional 30-day suspension meant the France international missed out on Liverpool’s Europa League Final defeat to Sevilla and, he claims, cost him a team place at the Euro 2016 tournament, London’s High Court heard.
He was eventually cleared in disciplinary proceedings before UEFA, with the body finding that the substance – higenamine – was not actually on the banned list.
The Crystal Palace defender is now suing for £13m, with his lawyers arguing that his earnings as a player and the worth of his personal brand have been reduced by his move away from Liverpool.
But the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) denies it is responsible for his transfer from the European Champions which, it says was in reality caused by “disciplinary issues” and a “personality clash” with Jurgen Klopp.
In a hearing at the High Court, Sakho’s lawyers told Master Victoria McCloud that his suspension in 2016 had dealt a massive hit to his earnings.
He missed games with the France team, had to foot lawyers’ and scientists’ bills and, ultimately, saw the end of his career with Liverpool and transfer to Crystal Palace, said his barrister, Stuart Ritchie QC.
“Although this is a distinguished Premier League club, it does not have the worldwide reputation or brand recognition of Liverpool FC with the value which this brings to a player, and his associated image rights,” said the QC.
“Only recently has he been re-selected to play for the French national team,” he added.
The court heard Sakho had tested positive for the substance – which was present in a dietary supplement he had taken – in a urine test in March 2016.
The laboratory wrote to WADA – which maintains the list of substances banned in world sports – and was told that the substance was on its banned list, under the category “all Beta-2 agonists”.
But the list did not specifically name higenamine and Uefa found it was “not proven” that it was on the banned list, clearing and “vindicating” Mr Sakho in July 2016, said his QC.
The UEFA tribunal said there were “significant doubts” whether higenamine is a “B2-Agonist” and said there had been a “clear lack of communication” from Wada about its status.
Alongside MS Top Ltd, the company which owns his image rights, Mr Sakho is now suing for millions in compensation, claiming Wada was negligent in its handling of the case against him.
And he claims the impact on his career was made worse when Wada stood by its claims in “defamatory” emails to journalists in 2016 and 2017, said Mr Ritchie.
“In the statements, Wada alleged Mr Sakho was guilty of taking a prohibited, performance enhancing substance, and that it was not appealing against the decision only because it was uncertain that he would receive a significantly higher sanction than the suspension of one month he had already served….” he said.
He is suing on grounds that the statements were untrue and defamatory.
However, Wada denies it did anything wrong, claiming that higenamine was “one of the generic substances banned”.
The body denies negligence or that it owed Mr Sakho any “duty of care”, and questions the impact of the suspension on the footballer’s career.
“We say the loan and transfer to Crystal Palace in January 2017, and the non-selection for France, are events following the disciplinary proceedings and are not causally related to the claimed act of Wada,” said their barrister Shane Sibbel.
Other disciplinary issues, including events leading to his being sent home from a pre-season tour, also played a part in ending his career at Liverpool, he added.
He had failed to get “express approval” from the club to take the dietary supplement and there was evidence of a “personality clash” with Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp, he claimed.
At the end of the hearing, the judge ordered that the trial on liability – whether Wada was negligent – should take place before the issue of the amount of compensation is considered.
The court bill for the case is expected to be well over £1m.
Higenamine derives from plants and is outlawed by Wada due to its alleged stimulant properties.
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.
City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.
Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.
Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.
The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.
Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.
“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”
Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.
But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.
The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.
Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.
Fulham’s outrageous opener
Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.
But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.
The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.
Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.
Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.
Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.
West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.
Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.
There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.
Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.
-AFP
Premier League
Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup
The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.
An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.
The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.
“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.
“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”
He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.
-Reuters
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.
“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”
Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.
“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.
Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.
-Reuters
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