Arsène Wenger has claimed his criticism of Uefa over doping resulted in 10 anti-doping officers turning up at Arsenal’s training ground last Friday to carry out random checks on his players.
Wenger has been outspoken about doping in football since his side were beaten by Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League this season. Arsenal, who play the Croatian side at home on Tuesday night, lost 2-1 in Zagreb but the Dinamo midfielder Arijan Ademi tested positive for a banned substance after the game. Ademi denies deliberately doping but Uefa has suspended the player for four years, subject to an appeal.
In the aftermath of that defeat Wenger was asked by the FA to clarify comments made to L’Equipe, claiming some teams have flouted doping rules. He has also called for regular blood testing and said football is not immune to doping problems.
Uefa officials visited Arsenal on Friday to carry out random testing after Wenger’s comments, and the Frenchman accused the governing body of “basically accepting” doping by not sanctioning a team if a single player tests positive for a banned substance. Its rules say more than two players must have committed violations before a team are punished.
“It’s a surprising rule,” Wenger said. “Uefa applies the rule, that is planned, but I personally don’t agree with the rule. You cannot say: ‘OK, they had a doped player and the result stands.’ That means you basically accept doping. But it is the rule and we accept that, we have to look at ourselves and deal with our own performance.
“I don’t know if I would have the support of anybody. I came out on that and as a result we had a doping control from Uefa on Friday. We had 10 people on Friday to control us. I said that before I want better controls. And we got better controls straight away. I don’t remember we have been controlled before, we have nothing against it. I called for more blood checks. That’s a major issue.”
Asked if a match result should be overturned because of a single player’s ineligibility due to a failed test, he added: “Exactly. It doesn’t look logical.”
That suggestion received a terse response from Dinamo’s manager. “Mr Wenger can think and talk about what he wants,” said Zoran Mamic, “but there are other people who make decisions about that. I can suggest him to write the rules for Uefa.”
A Uefa spokesman later said that the organisation’s stance on the “consequences for teams for doping offences” was in line with World Anti-Doping Agency policies and said blood tests were already a regular part of the organisation’s anti-doping effort. “Blood testing is a key part of Uefa’s anti-doping arsenal,” he said. “Uefa has in fact been blood testing since 2008. In the 2014-2015 season Uefa carried out 2,318 tests – 2,024 urine tests and 294 blood tests.”
Arsenal must win their Group F match at the Emirates on Tuesday night if they are to have any chance of advancing to the knockout stage. Even if they win, they need Bayern Munich to beat Olympiakos and then secure victory in Greece by a greater margin than the Greek side’s 3-2 win at the Emirates in September.
Francis Coquelin sustained a knee injury during the 2-1 defeat at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday and is expected to be out for more than two months. Mikel Arteta also suffered an injury at The Hawthorns but Wenger is confident Calum Chambers and Mathieu Flamini can step up to fill the void in midfield.
Aaron Ramsey took part in training on Monday having been out since October with a hamstring problem but is not expected to start. Wenger’s other absentees include Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck.
If Arsenal beat Dinamo they still face the possibility of finishing third in Group F and dropping into the Europa League. “We would take the competition seriously but we are not out yet,” Wenger said. “I believe this problem is exaggerated a little bit in England because we play Wednesday, Saturday – so it is the same as Thursday, Sunday. I can’t see the difference. There are plenty of examples in Portugal and Spain where teams have taken it seriously and won the championship. Benfica are the example, Sevilla, have done well.
“ We are in the moment of a disappointing result in the Premier League and we want to bounce back. We have had two days and you cannot prepare properly with only two days’ rest.
“At Zagreb we were caught on the counterattack and played with 10 men, they scored a second. We have a good history in the Champions League and this season against teams where we were favourites we were disappointing.”