"In its 104-year history Real Madrid has distinguished itself through exemplary dedication to and exaltation of human values and the defence of fair play" is the claim posted on the Madrilenos website in response to allegations that Real, Barca, Valencia and El Betis use Performance Enhancing Substances (PESs).
EPO, IGF-1, PFC, Nandrolone, Amphetamines plus legal substances like Creatine are widely administered at the top of the professional game throughout the world but particularly in Europe. For major competitions like the Champions League and the World Cup, the prize is so great that all tactics are considered by the leading participants.
Doping is totally accepted within the game.
I have been trading football betting markets professionally for fifteen years and I could name several leading clubs in each of the top European leagues who utilise PESs. In fact, the practice is so prevalent that the use of PESs is no longer a key fundamental parameter in the evaluation of football betting markets - 10 years ago, you could make serious money backing teams that were actively taking EPO, for example.
The pharmaceutical companies and doctors pedalling this stuff are more concerned nowadays with developing masking substances to prevent any detection of their criminality.
Cycling is confronting the problem and football needs to do the same. All efforts to date have been cosmetic. Spain is by no means the worst offending territory when it comes to PESs but the football authorities in Madrid are aware of the problem. A couple of years ago, they initiated a detection programme for one particular PES using urine tests when they were aware that this particular PES would only show up in blood samples. A Blatteresque manouevre if ever there was one.
And don't even get me started on Franco's Real Madrid and the "exaltation of human values". Viva La Quinta Brigada.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
