A former AC Milan player has admitted he and other players at the Italian club were “victims” of doping in the 1960s and 1970s.
Carlo Petrini, now 60, says he and others were “victims” of a culture of doping at the Italian club, who won the first of their seven European Cup/Champions League titles in 1963.
“As well as being given medicine, I was also a victim of doping. I say victim, because to me that’s what I am,” Petrini, who notably also played for Genoa, Torino and Roma, told Sky Sport 24 on Friday. “The first time, the doctor, masseur and coach came into the dressing room. The doctor had a vial in his hands which looked like a bottle of Orangina with a soft stopper. At that time disposable syringes didn’t exist, so big glass syringes were boiled up along with the needles that were used. That day, the needle went into the vial five times before being injected into five different thighs.”
“It was only afterwards that we realized what we’d been given because whether it was running, jumping, falling or going for goal we had energy to burn. We felt fresh and just didn’t run out of energy,” he said. “Every day there were injections going around. Some [players] injected themselves because they didn’t trust the masseurs.”
Petrini, who in 2001 published a book in which he slammed past doping practices in the game, said one of the side effects of the unknown products he claims were administered was producing “light green saliva.”
“Sometimes your tongue was so swollen it filled the entire mouth. We had to run about with our mouths open,” he said. “At the end of the match we thought it would end there, but you had so much energy left you couldn’t sit still. At three or four [o’clock] in the morning, when fatigue started to set in, you’d fall asleep on the spot.”
Petrini said his reason for speaking out is the lack of accountability from the club’s past management.
“No one took the time to find out whether these [doping] products were harmful or could cause irreparable damage to our health,” he said. “When you’re 20 years old, you think you’ll live forever, that you’re untouchable so you don’t put up any resistance. It would be hypocritical to now say: ‘I wouldn’t do that again.’ But if someone had said to us back then: ‘Listen guys, if you take this you should know you risk a few problems in 30 years time,’ then I would have refused.”
Petrini was interviewed for a program investigating ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a classic motor neuron disease which is progressive and fatal, and whose cause is unknown and which affects many former players.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
SHORT-HANDED: Reigning champions the Boston Celtics were without stars Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis, but they still downed the Timberwolves Oklahoma City on Thursday stretched the NBA’s best winning streak to 13 games with a home victory, while reigning champions the Boston Celtics held on for a last-shot triumph at Minnesota. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had game highs of 29 points and eight assists to spark the Thunder over the Los Angeles Clippers 116-98, improving the Western Conference leaders to 28-5. The Thunder’s winning streak is the longest since the team relocated from Seattle after the 2007-2008 season. “It’s just being present, going day by day, working on ourselves, and I think we’re doing a good job on that,” said Isaiah Hartenstein, who added 11
RSS