Zeman and doping: “Nothing has changed…”. Brambati shock: “What did they give us to stop Maradona?”

We return to talk about doping in the world of football. This time he thanks to a service in the episode scheduled for tomorrow evening of “Le Iene”. The reflections, destined to cause discussion, this time are from Zdenek Zeman who spoke to Mediaset on the sidelines of the presentation of his autobiography, “Beauty is priceless”, written by the deputy director of the Gazzetta dello Sport, Andrea Di Caro.

“It’s strange – began the former Roma coach – that some players get scared now and not when they took certain substances”. The reference to the words of Dino Baggio is clear (“We need to investigate a little on the substances taken in those periods, understand if certain supplements, over time, are good for you or not. I’m afraid too because it’s happening to too many players”) and Marco Tardelli (“We took drugs without discussion. I hope I’m lucky”). Zeman went on: “Can I rule out that the players I coach have taken drugs without my knowledge? Unfortunately I can’t rule it out because you can’t control everything. But when I spoke to the doctors, I didn’t give certain indications”. According to the Bohemian, there is no connection between doping and the recent deaths of Mihajlovic and Vialli (“Diseases come to everyone”), while he hasn’t changed his mind about the famous sentence uttered a few years ago (“Football must get out of pharmacies”). “In my opinion nothing has changed, unfortunately. These guys who are thinking about it now could have been thinking about it 25 years ago, asking what they were taking and why. Today it is late”.

BRAMBATI REFILL THE DOSE

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“Le Iene” also spoke to Brambati who admitted: “When I played Micoren it was a drug that I took practically every Sunday. It increased your lung capacity. A few years later it was strictly prohibited, doping… It was a pill that I swallowed half an hour before the match, in the locker room, without hiding. The doctor gave it to you and you knew that your performance would probably improve. My teammates and I didn’t ask the doctor what he was giving us. They were 19-20 years old and not I didn’t even ask too many questions. There was a difference between when I took Micoren and when I didn’t take it. I even scared my father once, after a match. That day I was marking Maradona and after the match, when I went to the bar to have a drink with dad, I couldn’t hold the cup in my hand because my hand was shaking and all the liquid was leaking out. I also had quite a glassy eye. I’ve taken a lot of Micoren and that’s why I’m very worried. With Gian luca Vialli I participated in the military World Cup, when you see someone you shared something with die, these things come to mind. I’m also worried about all the drips I took before the games: I don’t know exactly what could have been in it, except that they told me there was sugar or that there was this adrenal cortex, banned later. We did these drips the night before the match at the hotel, or the morning of the match itself. And since I’ve done quite a few, I’m definitely very worried. These drips gave a very strange effect: I remember that until 5 or 6 in the morning I looked at the ceiling because I couldn’t sleep. From the FIGC I was somewhat advised to keep quiet. They also sent me a letter, distrusting me to talk about it again. But the skin is mine and I would like someone to tell me that there is no correlation between what we have caught and some diseases that often occur on footballers.”