London, Nov 11 (IANS) Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger feared that football could have a doping problem following the latest drugs scandal surrounding athletics.
The English Premier League coach claimed he has faced many sides who he suspects have used performance enhancing drugs to aid their players.
The Gunners were beaten 2-1 by Croatian football club Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League in September, with one of the Croatian side’s star men, Arijan Ademi, later testing positive for a banned substance.
And Wenger feared his team could have fallen victim to drugs cheats on more than one occasion during his career, French newspaper L’Equipe reported on Tuesday.
“I try to be faithful to the values that I believe to be important in life and to pass them on to others. In 30 years as a manager I’ve never had my players injected to make them better. I never gave them any product that would help enhance their performance,” Wenger said.
“I’m proud of that. I’ve played against many teams that weren’t in that frame of mind. For me, the beauty of sport is that everyone wants to win, but there will only be one winner. We have reached an era in which we glorify the winner, without looking at the means or the method,” he said.
The Arsenal manager further added, “And 10 years later we realise the guy was a cheat. And during that time, the one that came second suffered. He didn’t get recognition. And, with all that’s been said about them, they can be very unhappy.”