LONDON (UK) – World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) apology to Crystal Palace’s Mamadou Sakho for a drugs ban in 2016 was long overdue, said Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp, adding that he was happy that the French defender had finally cleared his name.
Sakho, the Crystal Palace centre back, was playing for Liverpool at the time when he was probed by UEFA and handed over a provisional 30-day ban in April 2016 after he tested positive for the fat burner Higenamine.
Because of the ban, he was not able to play in the Europa League final against Sevilla and Euro 2016. But UEFA dismissed the doping case against him in July. It was later confirmed that Higenamine had not been on WADA’s list of banned substances at the time.
WADA’s lawyer tendered an apology to Sakho in an open court in London on Wednesday and agreed to compensate the 30-year-old.
“My initial thought was ‘finally!'” Klopp said. “We knew for a long time already that Mama did nothing wrong. It was a massive blow. I’m really happy that he got at least now the evidence that he did nothing wrong.
“Doping is a problem, yes. But I never really saw it as a problem in football because I’m 30 years in it and never was in contact with any kind of it.
“And if there is, it’s because somebody made a silly decision, not because they wanted to improve his recovery time or whatever.
“If you carry around the mark that you did doping, especially when you didn’t do it, that’s massive. So I’m really happy he’s freed of all of these things.”
After failing the drugs test, Sakho did not dribble the ball for Liverpool. He moved to Crystal Palace first on loan and then on a permanent deal.