Pep Guardiola has revealed that he decided to leave Riyad Mahrez out of Manchester City’s Community Shield squad due to concerns he would fail a drugs test.
The Algeria winger had been keen to feature at Wembley, despite only returning to training on Friday after helping his country win the Africa Cup of Nations.
However, the City boss decided not to include the 28-year-old in his side for Sunday’s penalty-shootout win over Liverpool after learning that he had taken medication during his time on international duty.
The club’s medical staff were unable to determine the ingredients of the medication and didn’t want to risk Mahrez falling foul of anti-doping rules.
“Riyad called me straight after being champion and said he wants to be back against Liverpool,” said Guardiola after the victory. “I said he was more than welcome.
Riyad called me straight after being champion and said he wants to be back against Liverpool,” said Guardiola after the victory. “I said he was more than welcome.
“But Riyad took some medicine just a little bit, but we don’t know what he took and therefore doping control today was a risk because the doctors did not know what was in the medicine.
“So that’s why he did not play today.
“He could have played some minutes, but we could not take a risk because the doctors didn’t have the medicines.
“Hopefully at West Ham he will be fine.”
City beat Jurgen Klopp’s side on penalties to secure the club’s first piece of silverware of the season at Wembley.
Raheem Sterling got the defending Premier League champions off to a strong start with a first-half goal, but substitute Joel Matip levelled for the Reds after the break to ensure the match ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.
The encounter had to be settled by penalties, and City were able to seal victory as Guardiola’s men successfully converted all five of their spot-kicks after Georginio Wijnaldum saw his attempt saved by Claudio Bravo.
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COMMENTS
No wonder Akpeyi didn’t see that bullet of a shot coming till it shook the net. I guess it wasn’t Panadol this guy took…
This allegations are Serious.
CAF needs toook into this again.
They do these things in Africa this North Africans no wonder they can fly and attack you like bees. Hmmm caf inside life!
No wonder dude was feeling like Ronaldo or Messi. Abi was it not the same Algeria that’s been no stress for us recently? They even struggled to get a draw in their home stadium and suddenly ‘superman’ Mahrez played in the game? Abeegii! NFF should dig deeper with a view to lodging a strong complaint if found true. Perhaps Algeria will be stripped of their last Afcon gold medal. North Africans will always apply hook and crook means to win football matches, which was partly the reason why the last CAF champions league ended in a fiasco, is still unresolved as at today and has brought so much disgrace to Ahmad and CAF — just cos 2 traditional Maghreb (and I’d say cheat-lovers) teams were clashing in the final. They hardly win fair and square.
That’s why outside Africa the Maghrebs can’t get a draw against sides like Iran and Tahiti but flex muscles in Africa
An official complaint needs to be lodged asap with CAF and FIFA regarding this. If it was the other way round, Algeria would have lodged the complaint a long time ago. After holding them to a 1-1 draw at home, they complained that we fielded an ineligible player. They lodged that complaint, even though they knew it would not change the table rankings. We had already qualified with a game to spare. Can you imagine how they would have complained if they stood a chance of qualifying? We too should not hold back from protesting. We have to be extremely combative with these Arab-African nations, because that is exactly how they are toward us, on and off the pitch!
The NFF needs to file a “pre-emptive complaint. There is no suggestion that Mahrez took a banned substance, there is no suggestion that he took performance enhancing drugs. The stance of Liverpool is that “they don’t know what medication he was given”. They took that stance “just in case”. As such Nigeria needs this to be looked into “just in case”.
It could be panadol for all we know, it could be a permitted pain relief drug, but nobody knows. The best way forward would be for enquiries to be made and clarifications (with proof) given.
I’m sure that Mahrez will be subjected to enhanced doping tests prior to the start of the premier league (as all players who attended AFCON will probably be).
There is just cause to have this looked into, but we need not be jumping upandan and adding one and one and getting five without the NFF asking and the AFF responding
Algeria deafeted nigeria because they hv a better coach and goal keper. Your protest will be invalid.nff should go for a better coach.
North African teams are always very dubious when playing in an African tournament. Obviously, the doping control in a CAF competition can be flawed if not erratic. They know they can’t get away with such things on the global stage or in Europe. Belaili just served a two year ban for cocaine. So it’s very common for those Magrebs to use performance enhancing drugs. If the doctors at City can’t identify what he had taken because they know it’s a banned substance found in his system. That’s why they don’t want to risk it in front of the English FA. I think the problem of African football in general is CAF. That’s why I appreciate FIFA’s interference to control the body for the time being.