Track and cycling are the sports with the best doping controls that catch the most offenders.
Football (soccer) is surely the worst. Eufemiani Fuentes used to work for Barca and Pep Guardiola was banned as a player in Italy for taking nandrolone. Those Pep Barca teams might have been among the dirtiest in the history of sports.
I did not know that about Barca employing known dopers but not surprising. In my previous post, I was actually thinking of Real Madrid players, particularly Luka Modric, as he's been pointed out as having an "incredible engine" despite being in his late 30s! Again, it seems like it's pretty widespread and unchecked among most clubs but Barca should be least surprising after thinking about it. One of the conditions they signed Messi on was that he could keep taking his HGH (although that was medical at the time).
The famous Bayern Munich bulk during covid (when testing was likely non-existent) was suspicious too, not least because some players have physically regressed back to baseline, e.g. .
On the other hand, I don't see any metrics of athleticism in football that stand out. Peak Cristiano Ronaldo with a two step run up, . Yet he's seen as a freak athlete in the sport.
I could see some drugs being used for recovery, but this is the same sport that has athletes drinking before big games - it's hardly the pinnacle of professionalism, even now.
And where are the whistle blowers (disgruntled former players / academy players, medical staff, ex-girlfriends etc). We see all sorts of scandals about players, yet never hear a disgruntled ex talk about steroids?
Pogba's the biggest coup in years for footballing anti-doping, and he was one of the biggest stars in the game and a Nike athlete. If he's fair game then surely many more are.
A photo of Goretzka taken during a Bayern Munich pre-season training session this week has got fans talking. It went viral after it was tweeted by the content creator '@StokeyyG2' on Monday.
