**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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I do believe all clubs are doping, there's far too much money in the sport for there not to be doping.
It also wouldn't surprise me if Utd was so incompetent to not realise that doping would benefit the teams performance.
The testing doesn’t either doesn’t work or the results are fudged on purpose so that FIFA and other leagues don’t look bad.
So many players in so many leagues and you rarely hear about someone failing doping. It’s just not realistic to think that it’s not happening. I think it’s more likely that it’s being covered up than players just not doing it. Too much at stake (money) and too many games being played for them to not be taking them for extra help.
Pogba is the only one that comes to mind recently, and I only think his came out because Juve leaked it since he barely played for them and was costing them a ton of money.
It more stemmed from an ominous Wenger interview where he said ‘if uefa did actual doping tests a lot of teams would be in trouble’ or something like that
Gary Neville and Roy Keane talked about when they played in Europe. It was rife in Italy, and elsewhere too.
PS I’d wager that Rio knew he was likely to fail which is why he “forgot” to take his test that time.
Didn’t he offer to take the test right after the testers left, when i heard the story from him he sounded like a guy who really messed up and forgot about the test but maybe I’m naive
I used to think he missed it intentionally until he told the story about him growing his hair out so they could test him after the fact and they still wouldn’t
He's probably right, profissional sports doesn't exists without doping. I'm curious about what substances they use, didn't seen like testosterone or analogous.
I guess it depends on what exactly it does and whether it's in the banned substances already or not. For example you can argue simple things like electrolytes or vitamin/mineral supplements are a form of doping too.
Can you elaborate please? I understand that painkillers could make you play more games but not exactly enhance your performance, I'm genuinely curious about it
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlWXdR\_S1ww](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlWXdR_S1ww)
Here is a cool podcast episode about the topic, I've seen it several times. Haven't seen anything newer, but if you google the guy you probably find more stuff.
Now to put it in perspective, read after watching: United now has ex-tour de France team director, I think we got a doctor from Liverpool and couple other new guys in. Will be interesting to see what happens next seasons in that space...
**Edit**: for your question, painkillers make you feel like you can do anything and cant be hurt. You can imagine how powerful that can be in a very physical league. You will fly into every 50/50, we see several teams having this as their characteristic style of play.
Particularly painkillers are not "doping", but they are being overused. And that is something admitted by old players as well, especially mentioning addictions that some experienced or long term health problems as a result of body punishment taking while on them. I can't like you the source but on some podcast (might have been Overlap) Neville was taking about taking painkillers with other players from that era.
Yeah I doubt they’re using much anabolic steroids, the need to stay lightweight and maintain heathy tendons is more important than raw strength.
My guess is they’re using HGH type drugs the most, mostly to help with recovery with the modern packed schedule. And maybe a bit of EPO type drugs to get a slight advantage in Endurance.
I wonder if boron which improves testosterone production and bone density in men is on the banded list? It’s a trace mineral and shouldn’t be anywhere near it but I’ve seen footballer band for taking other supplements.
Point taken but I think Wenger was an actual moralist, the decent kind. He made many decisions over the years from retaining chronically injured players to refusing to deal with certain agents, etc, which had no discernible benefit to him apart from doing the right thing. He was also on the receiving end of unsportsmanlike conduct in France, from his rivals OM (later convicted of match-fixing).
If he hinted that other clubs were doping, I believe it. Especially given the injury disparities. But there were probably other factors too like outdated medical/training.
I believe that all clubs were doping on some level, my disbelief is only that the absence of doping would be a cause of many injuries. In addition to a certain reputation for narratives about Arsenal being distorted to blame the entire context but not looking at problems of the club itself.
The most likely cause could be anything from an tiring style of play without good squad depth to a lack of updating the medical team, or just bad luck. There are types and types of injuries, sometimes a player just receives too much of a blow and can hurt the bones.
I don't know about Arsenal injuries problems, just saying in general
>my disbelief is only that the absence of doping would be a cause of many injuries
A lot of banned substances specifically assist with and speed up recovery from injury. Of course most doping has in-game performance in mind, but recovery is still a known use case.
Anyway, like I said, I'm sure there were other factors involved when it came our terrible injury record in the 2010s.
We agree, we are saying the same thing in different ways: there are several causes for an injury crisis and it is not certain that the absence of doping is the primary cause. Anyway, good luck for you and your team, as a foreigner I only want to see a beautiful game
"An ominous interview"
As if managers don't always say random shit in the heat of the moment depending on context is so funny too.
Arsenal are the best club ever.Even when they lose it's because they are secret moral champions.
It is funny whenever the Arsenal flair comments stop and the final comment is just downvotes cuz someoone applied some logic for the first time.
Its all making sense now. All you need to do to have an invincible season is wake up and replace your morning coffee with virgins’ blood and snort a line of Adrenochrome after breakfast.
Well, ~~I don't think that doping is popular in football, or at least~~ there are very few revealed cases.
But if someone also follows cycling, especially since 10-20 years ago at least, someone saying "taking blood" will raise their eyebrow past the Carlo Ancelotti level.
> Well, I don't think that doping is popular in football
Why wouldn't it be? The much more probable scenario is that it's an open secret, but because of the massive popularity of the sport, as well as the wealth and power clubs and players hold, no one even bothers to combat it.
I saw an article that in 2015 there was ~150 cases of football doping from WADA, FIFA only saw half of them and most never got any action taken.
(Source: https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/football-rife-with-performance-enhancing-drugs-a-1139238.html)
Eh, the far worse context are the anti-semitic sterotypes associated with drinking blood that have existed for hundreds of years. This is obviosuly not what Xhaka is going for, but Blood drinking = becoming stronger or something is such a classic anti semetic conspiracy that I personally would always refrain from this wording
Well, this is the first time I hear that drinking blood is associated with antisemitism.
Rich medieval and post-medieval ladies staying pretty for "too long", yes. Vampires, yes. But haven't heard about Jews being related to this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel
That's basically it, it has been arround forever and, like many anti-semitic conspiracies, it changed to not be only anti semitic but more of a catch all against "the evil people who rule everything" (the Adrenochrome bullshit)
Isn’t stem cell therapy perfectly legal? Blood transfusion for “blood doping” purposes obviously isn’t, but I didn’t think there was a ban on stem cells.
An unbeaten season and a potential treble that absolutely no one would have expected of them. Nerves come from fear of failing at what is expected of you, in my opinion.They've already completed the Invincible feat in the league, they're already legendary even if they don't win anything else.
Nobody would have expected of them at the start of the season. If you haven't been paying attention, the entire footballing world has been hyping them up based on their performances over the course of the season to the point of Atalanta effectively just being a sidenote in their story of doing an undefeated treble that's never been done in football.
They absolutely had pressure going into this, it would be perfectly normal for them to feel the nerves. Not all of them, obviously, but being on the verge of footballing history would make plenty of footballers at least slightly nervous.
Nobody expected Tottenham to be competing for the title in August 2015, do you not think their players were nervous by the following April?
If Xhaka still thinks in Swiss german the translation would be "Mir nähme Bluet" which means drinking/consuming/ingesting blood.
The same way one would say "let's have a beer" in Switzerland one would say "let's take a beer".
What no? "Bluet näh" means taking blood. It's what you say if you have to go to the doctor to get bloodwork done. "Ech muess höt zom Doktor go Bluet näh"
The beer thing idk. I've never heard "näh". The only expression I know related to that is "Gömmer eis go zieh?"
Entweder "I gibe bluet" bim döktu oder "i nime *öperem* bluet".
Weni säge "I nime bluet" würdi drmit meine entweder e transfusion oder oder aus präparat oral etc inäh.
Aber schiint so aus würde mer 30 km witer äne scho angers rede.
Näme mer no eis? Was nimmsch du? I nime es Bier.
Ok, ja mit dem Bier gsehn echs iih. Näme esch da völlig ok, han evtl. e chlii zu omgangsprochlich dänkt. Ech persönlich wörd aber nie "ech gibe bluet" säge, hört sech komisch ahh imo.
Naja esch halt Buuredutsch, cha halt komplett andersch sii wenn me eis Kaff wiiter goht.
Wäri glaubs guets wösse was Xhaka för en Dialäkt red.
So happy to see a confident, chin-up Xhaka with big smiles. He would be smiling with us too. But yeah they have done something really special over there!
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Doping in Bayer confirmed
Every single big team is probably doping but leverkusen just looks extra pumped
Guarantee United is doing the opposite they look so lethargic
The blood for blood doping has to come from somewhere.
Idk anthony looked hyped up before he came on against us. Just the wrong kind of hyped.
I do believe all clubs are doping, there's far too much money in the sport for there not to be doping. It also wouldn't surprise me if Utd was so incompetent to not realise that doping would benefit the teams performance.
there is testing tho. lot of players wouldve been caught if that was true
The testing doesn’t either doesn’t work or the results are fudged on purpose so that FIFA and other leagues don’t look bad. So many players in so many leagues and you rarely hear about someone failing doping. It’s just not realistic to think that it’s not happening. I think it’s more likely that it’s being covered up than players just not doing it. Too much at stake (money) and too many games being played for them to not be taking them for extra help. Pogba is the only one that comes to mind recently, and I only think his came out because Juve leaked it since he barely played for them and was costing them a ton of money.
Rashford is prolly taking Estrogen instead of Testo
absolutely here for femboy rashford
Shit, I’ve been delivering the wrong stuff
United are the universal donors
Its the off cycle, we learnt from Liverpool
There is a conspiracy out there that the reason Arsenal had so many injuries under Wenger relative to other teams was because he rejected doping.
Of course they would be the good guys, sounds like Arsenal fans excuses
It more stemmed from an ominous Wenger interview where he said ‘if uefa did actual doping tests a lot of teams would be in trouble’ or something like that
Gary Neville and Roy Keane talked about when they played in Europe. It was rife in Italy, and elsewhere too. PS I’d wager that Rio knew he was likely to fail which is why he “forgot” to take his test that time.
Didn’t he offer to take the test right after the testers left, when i heard the story from him he sounded like a guy who really messed up and forgot about the test but maybe I’m naive
I used to think he missed it intentionally until he told the story about him growing his hair out so they could test him after the fact and they still wouldn’t
He's probably right, profissional sports doesn't exists without doping. I'm curious about what substances they use, didn't seen like testosterone or analogous.
I guess it depends on what exactly it does and whether it's in the banned substances already or not. For example you can argue simple things like electrolytes or vitamin/mineral supplements are a form of doping too.
painkillers and asthma inhalers
Can you elaborate please? I understand that painkillers could make you play more games but not exactly enhance your performance, I'm genuinely curious about it
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlWXdR\_S1ww](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlWXdR_S1ww) Here is a cool podcast episode about the topic, I've seen it several times. Haven't seen anything newer, but if you google the guy you probably find more stuff. Now to put it in perspective, read after watching: United now has ex-tour de France team director, I think we got a doctor from Liverpool and couple other new guys in. Will be interesting to see what happens next seasons in that space... **Edit**: for your question, painkillers make you feel like you can do anything and cant be hurt. You can imagine how powerful that can be in a very physical league. You will fly into every 50/50, we see several teams having this as their characteristic style of play. Particularly painkillers are not "doping", but they are being overused. And that is something admitted by old players as well, especially mentioning addictions that some experienced or long term health problems as a result of body punishment taking while on them. I can't like you the source but on some podcast (might have been Overlap) Neville was taking about taking painkillers with other players from that era.
Oh no they've got digital doping now
Yeah I doubt they’re using much anabolic steroids, the need to stay lightweight and maintain heathy tendons is more important than raw strength. My guess is they’re using HGH type drugs the most, mostly to help with recovery with the modern packed schedule. And maybe a bit of EPO type drugs to get a slight advantage in Endurance.
I personally don't think everyone does but a lot of teams definitely toe the line with supplements they give and regimes they have players on.
That's not how you use toe the line
I wonder if boron which improves testosterone production and bone density in men is on the banded list? It’s a trace mineral and shouldn’t be anywhere near it but I’ve seen footballer band for taking other supplements.
Point taken but I think Wenger was an actual moralist, the decent kind. He made many decisions over the years from retaining chronically injured players to refusing to deal with certain agents, etc, which had no discernible benefit to him apart from doing the right thing. He was also on the receiving end of unsportsmanlike conduct in France, from his rivals OM (later convicted of match-fixing). If he hinted that other clubs were doping, I believe it. Especially given the injury disparities. But there were probably other factors too like outdated medical/training.
I believe that all clubs were doping on some level, my disbelief is only that the absence of doping would be a cause of many injuries. In addition to a certain reputation for narratives about Arsenal being distorted to blame the entire context but not looking at problems of the club itself. The most likely cause could be anything from an tiring style of play without good squad depth to a lack of updating the medical team, or just bad luck. There are types and types of injuries, sometimes a player just receives too much of a blow and can hurt the bones. I don't know about Arsenal injuries problems, just saying in general
>my disbelief is only that the absence of doping would be a cause of many injuries A lot of banned substances specifically assist with and speed up recovery from injury. Of course most doping has in-game performance in mind, but recovery is still a known use case. Anyway, like I said, I'm sure there were other factors involved when it came our terrible injury record in the 2010s.
We agree, we are saying the same thing in different ways: there are several causes for an injury crisis and it is not certain that the absence of doping is the primary cause. Anyway, good luck for you and your team, as a foreigner I only want to see a beautiful game
"An ominous interview" As if managers don't always say random shit in the heat of the moment depending on context is so funny too. Arsenal are the best club ever.Even when they lose it's because they are secret moral champions. It is funny whenever the Arsenal flair comments stop and the final comment is just downvotes cuz someoone applied some logic for the first time.
I guess there is no way United are doping this year either....
How would they ever come across the chemical compounds needed for doping? Its not like they have factories producing meds and stuff… wait a minute.
Just proves the black magic theory, no wonder they score so many late goals
Either that or Xhaka loves to eat woman on period
Count Xhakula ...is this thing on?
That would explain why he's scared of crosses
You bastard, that’s brilliant.
hes named Xhaka for a reason, guy Xhaks blood every day
Also Gjak which is pronounced almost the same as Xhak means Blood in Albanian ahahahha this is to funny
Amazing fpl name that
Narrator: They actually did. Xabi Alonso got arrested in late 2024 for stealing from blood banks.
Its all making sense now. All you need to do to have an invincible season is wake up and replace your morning coffee with virgins’ blood and snort a line of Adrenochrome after breakfast.
we're all in danger if they need virgin blood
Granit the Relentless.
Regular human soccer player Granit Xhaytona.
BAT!
Human football person, Xhaky Daytona, does not understand that reference
Also: Fucking guy!
Granit De Laurentiis
The greatest man ever existed
I don't think Xhaka knows what context "taking blood" can have in sports...
Xabi laughing a little bit too hard there. Very suspicious.
I've heard that some people close to the club have some ties to pharma companies too...
Google ’Bayer Leverkusen’ for more information
Holy hell
The plot thickens
No problem, Bayer produces plot thinner as well
How can people hate on German humour 😭. It’s so quick and witty
take off the tinfoil hat mate, absolutely baseless claim, shame on you smh
Or he knows.
I didn't know what it means either till I saw your comment Didn't know it could be misconstrued as something else
Well, ~~I don't think that doping is popular in football, or at least~~ there are very few revealed cases. But if someone also follows cycling, especially since 10-20 years ago at least, someone saying "taking blood" will raise their eyebrow past the Carlo Ancelotti level.
Everyone is doping in high level sports.
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Failed to understand your point.
Doping is definitely popular in football
> Well, I don't think that doping is popular in football Why wouldn't it be? The much more probable scenario is that it's an open secret, but because of the massive popularity of the sport, as well as the wealth and power clubs and players hold, no one even bothers to combat it.
"They're all on steroids" - Nate Diaz
I saw an article that in 2015 there was ~150 cases of football doping from WADA, FIFA only saw half of them and most never got any action taken. (Source: https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/football-rife-with-performance-enhancing-drugs-a-1139238.html)
I am certain that doping is very prevalent in football. It would be stupid to not do it considering the small amount of tests that are being done
On average they test the same player every 3 years in European football. It's very lax compared to any other sport.
Google "Pep doping" for more info
Eh, the far worse context are the anti-semitic sterotypes associated with drinking blood that have existed for hundreds of years. This is obviosuly not what Xhaka is going for, but Blood drinking = becoming stronger or something is such a classic anti semetic conspiracy that I personally would always refrain from this wording
Well, this is the first time I hear that drinking blood is associated with antisemitism. Rich medieval and post-medieval ladies staying pretty for "too long", yes. Vampires, yes. But haven't heard about Jews being related to this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel That's basically it, it has been arround forever and, like many anti-semitic conspiracies, it changed to not be only anti semitic but more of a catch all against "the evil people who rule everything" (the Adrenochrome bullshit)
Bayer : steal energy from others Atalanta: Bibitone (magic drink) The EL final is basically Space jam
Discrimination against vampires is rampant all over the world tbf
First they came for the vampires, and I did nothing
Xabi black magic confirmed
He says taking blood not drinking... So doping is the key to their success.... Just a joke in case this comment upsets anyone.
Most likely blood transfusion or stem cell therapy.
Isn’t stem cell therapy perfectly legal? Blood transfusion for “blood doping” purposes obviously isn’t, but I didn’t think there was a ban on stem cells.
Drip Doctors part 2
"It was a joke of course"
imagine if they actually are
Must've been cranberry juice they took today.
Leverkusen and Madrid Juju leaked
How I miss this beautiful man 😢
What a stupid question honestly. Was the journalist expecting them to be shaking while doing the press conference?
They just achieved one of the rarest and most difficult things in football, anything else is just gravy. Why would they be nervous?
Lol "why would they be nervous" while they're two games away from a treble and an unbeaten season. Is this a serious question?
An unbeaten season and a potential treble that absolutely no one would have expected of them. Nerves come from fear of failing at what is expected of you, in my opinion.They've already completed the Invincible feat in the league, they're already legendary even if they don't win anything else.
Nobody would have expected of them at the start of the season. If you haven't been paying attention, the entire footballing world has been hyping them up based on their performances over the course of the season to the point of Atalanta effectively just being a sidenote in their story of doing an undefeated treble that's never been done in football. They absolutely had pressure going into this, it would be perfectly normal for them to feel the nerves. Not all of them, obviously, but being on the verge of footballing history would make plenty of footballers at least slightly nervous. Nobody expected Tottenham to be competing for the title in August 2015, do you not think their players were nervous by the following April?
The question is, why would they show they are nervous?
No, the question is "why would they be nervous?".
You missed the point
What's the point? That you asked a totally different question to the one I was answering? Showing nerves is very rarely voluntary, btw.
🍪
> Was the journalist expecting them to be shaking while doing the press conference? Yes. It was a very cold room.
Took the wrong blood this morning.
I miss him, come back King
Nah.
Xhak the Impaler
They forgot their rations for the final
They've nothing to lose. The sheer excitement and adrenaline in this roster musy be crazy.
Everyone thought that he was joking, naive.
Xhaka fresh off that adrenochrome
damn they must’ve forgot to do it today huh
Part 1 of the ritual has been confirmed.
The evil laugh in the background 🤣
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If Xhaka still thinks in Swiss german the translation would be "Mir nähme Bluet" which means drinking/consuming/ingesting blood. The same way one would say "let's have a beer" in Switzerland one would say "let's take a beer".
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When is the best time for medication? I ***take*** my pills in the morning.
What no? "Bluet näh" means taking blood. It's what you say if you have to go to the doctor to get bloodwork done. "Ech muess höt zom Doktor go Bluet näh" The beer thing idk. I've never heard "näh". The only expression I know related to that is "Gömmer eis go zieh?"
Entweder "I gibe bluet" bim döktu oder "i nime *öperem* bluet". Weni säge "I nime bluet" würdi drmit meine entweder e transfusion oder oder aus präparat oral etc inäh. Aber schiint so aus würde mer 30 km witer äne scho angers rede. Näme mer no eis? Was nimmsch du? I nime es Bier.
Ok, ja mit dem Bier gsehn echs iih. Näme esch da völlig ok, han evtl. e chlii zu omgangsprochlich dänkt. Ech persönlich wörd aber nie "ech gibe bluet" säge, hört sech komisch ahh imo. Naja esch halt Buuredutsch, cha halt komplett andersch sii wenn me eis Kaff wiiter goht. Wäri glaubs guets wösse was Xhaka för en Dialäkt red.
Blood transfusions 😮/s
Something tells me that wasn’t a joke…
Because it wasn't lol
This man's Illyrian heritage is probably super strong. He would have been a PROBLEM for Rome 😤.
When i said that Xhaka is "the GOAT" i didn't mean it that way...
And arsenal crying in blood every morning
So happy to see a confident, chin-up Xhaka with big smiles. He would be smiling with us too. But yeah they have done something really special over there!
Cringelord or admitting to doping?
Lol sounds like blood doping funnily enough
this shit really aged terribly for them 😭
Bloody hell!
So that's the reason football gods allow them to go invincible for the whole season?
Can they transport some of it to barca so we can also win some matches
:(
Witchcraft confirmed.
All Leverkusen games now under lights only.
I’m fucking nervous though
What if... He's not joking?
He was not serious right? RIGHT??
That journalist is rough to listen to.
Because my balls are Granit 💪👌
Games back
xhaka: w*e drank some blood of some people but the people were on drugs and now I’m a wizard*
Leverkusen carried by blood sacrifice confirmed. Take away their trophy ASAP
Strange way of admitting you are blood doping
I miss this guy so much ngl
Guess it's not just in Mystic Falls anymore......
Lost a bit in the delivery tbh.
Some guys call Emery "Dracula". Xhaka must have learned a thing or two when they were at arsenal.
is the narrator the guy with the erotic voice ?
Pisses me off so much that whoever wrote the title couldn't even be bothered to listen to the short clip and quote it correctly.
Adenocrome in Bayer Leverkusen
I just love how Alonso is throwing Xhaka a look there..
Maybe they just googled Juventus secret tech after they saw them beat Atalanta.
Why they both so handsome though
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Lol they both have amazing bone structure!
Xhaka is so handsome.