Former Manchester United players Roy Keane and Gary Neville have accused some of the teams they played against to have been doping.
In a podcast discussing their toughest nights in Europe, the former United players shared reservations about their Champions League opponents. While Neville stated that he and other United players had felt something was “not right” during a certain encounter in the “mid-2000s,” Keane specifically mentioned “a couple of Italian teams.”
While Neville and Keane did not single out a specific club, Sir Alex Ferguson, their manager at the time, has stated in the past that they ought to have won even more European Cups during his tenure. Keane shared two Champions League victories with Neville and United.
Neville told the Stick to Football podcast: “There are a couple that stick in my mind and I’m going to say this for legal reasons, I think there were a few teams that we played against who weren’t clean. We thought it at the time.”
Keane added: “We played certain teams, I would be walking off and would be absolutely shattered. I would be looking at the players I played against, a couple of Italian teams, and they looked like they’ve not even played a match.”
Concluding the discussion, Neville said: “You look back at what came out after in cycling and other sports and doctors and then you think, ‘Hang on?’ Physically, we were fit, we weren’t drinkers. I came off a pitch against an Italian team and thought, ‘That’s not right. That’s not right, I’m sorry’. And I know that a couple of the other lads, mid-2000s, thought exactly the same thing.”
In the 1990s, Serie A teams were the ones to beat in Europe. They had a representative in eight of the ten Champions League finals that took place during that decade, and five more finalists in the 2000s. Doping allegations have plagued Italian football for a long time, dating back to when Neville and Keane were players for United.
Serie A has taken a big dip in quality over the last decade but there are three teams in the last 16 of the Champions League which will resume in February. Italian champions Napoli will come up against Barcelona, Inter will face Atletico Madrid and Lazio have been drawn against Bayern Munich.
