Cascarino admits he was doped at Marseille

godtabh

PARIS, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Former Ireland striker Tony Cascarino has said he received injections for unidentified substances during his spell at Olympique Marseille.

'I admit that I received injections but I know many other players who did the same,' Cascarino, who played for Marseille from 1994 to 1997, told the French sports daily L'Equipe.

'I don't know exactly what it was but I'm 99 percent sure that it was not legal.'

Former Marseille player Jean-Jacques Eydelie, who was found guilty of bribery in the 1993 Valenciennes-Olympique Marseille match-fixing scandal, told L'Equipe Magazine last month that he and several team mates had received injections before the 1993 Champions League final against AC Milan won 1-0 by Marseille.

'To be honest with you, I had heard the same thing when I arrived at the club in 1994,' Cascarino told L'Equipe when asked about Eydelie's accusations.

'From the first day I was told exactly the same story, so it was not an enormous shock when the news broke,' added Cascarino, who had already mentioned having received injections at Marseille in a column he wrote for the Times in 2003.

The European governing body UEFA said it would not be investigating Eydelie's doping claims.

Marseille rejected the claims and the club's former chairman Bernard Tapie has said he will sue Eydelie and the magazine over comments made about him in the interview.

Tapie, a former minister during the 1990s, was sentenced to eight months in prison for his role in the Valenciennes match-fixing scandal. He was also banned from having any position in soccer for five years.

'It was always before the match,' Cascarino told L'Equipe about the injections. 'We received an injection in the lower back. I was not quite sure what it was but as everybody told me it was good and as I felt great after each injection, I accepted what was being done to me'.

I dunno if it made much difference! Cascarino was an ok player and no better. Even if he was doped!

I just wonder do how none of this was never found out with all the drug testing there is meant to be.

Pigman II

He does seem to like dropping bombshells what with this and esp the admission that he was never elligible to play for Ireland (he even went on to play a further 22times for us AFTER he found out so clearly it didn't bother him that much.)

But why he made that Ireland admission and now this I don't know? Probably just after some cheap publicity rather than trying to clean up the game or anything imho.

As to what difference the doping made, Cascarino (despite being a player who took his fair share of knocks due to the type of player he was) was still playing at a high level at age 37 so perhaps it had some influence on his longevity? All I know is not too many players last 17 years as a pro or have lined out for us at that age.