Doping in Spain: Xabi Alonso involved?
The doping trail leads to the very top, to the top of the national football federation of Spain, to José Luis Astiazarán. Astiazarán is president of the Spanish Primera Division and vice-president of the national federation since 2005. When he was president of Real Sociedad San Sebastian he bought doping substances from Eufemiano Fuentes, reported the Spanish Newspaper El Pais and published prooving documents on the web. Xabi Alonso became a star while playing for San Sebastian in its suspicious time. The World-Anti-Doping Agency WADA started an investigation.
The Spanish club San Sebastian got doping substances from Eufemiano Fuentes for several years. Yesterday statements of former president Inaki Baldiola went public: His club did buy doping substances for a maximum of 342.000 Euro a year and paid it with black money. We reported on this issue, here is an additional Spanish video.
Today the Spanish newspaper El Pais published documents, which proove connections between San Sebastian and Fuentes. In these documentes you can find the abbreviation „R.Soc“ for Real Sociedad (San Sebastian) as well.
“Asti“ has been the contact for Fuentes
According to the documentes Fuentes sold Human Growth Hormone and Insuline to San Sebastian. Fuentes’ contact at the club was someone named „Asti“. WADA investigates, if „Asti“ stands for the former club-president José Luis Astiazarán. Astiazarán ist head of the Spanish Primera Division and vice-president of the national football federation since 2005.
Inaki Baldiola has been president of San Sebastian from January until December 2008. He ordered auditors to investigate the accounts of the preceding years. At these investigations the slush fund was found. Some account movements can be matched to handwritten notices of Fuentes which are tagged with the name „Asti“. Former president denied the allegations but didn’t give further comment.
If San Sebastian really paid more than 300.000 Euro a year for doping substances there were more than 10.000 Euro a year for every player. No one can say from the documents up to now if and how many players got doped. But the teams of San Sebastian from 2001 to 2008 are at least suspicious now.
Xabi Alonso became a star in San Sebastian
Most famous local player between 2001 and 2008 was Xabi Alonso. He gave his first-division debut at age 19 for San Sebastian, that was in January of 2001. Two years later Alonso and San Sebastian finished second in Primera Division, this was a big surprise, Real Madrid was just two points ahead that year. At age 22 Xabi was tranfered to the Premier League: Liverpool paid 16 million Euro for him. Five years later Real paid 35 million, today Xabi is a world star, a key player at Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. Likewise in this suspicious time Mikel Arteta played for San Sebastian, Arteta is today a key player at Arsenal.
Even Germany played its role at San Sebastians doping, a small role: On a document Fuentes noted „Choina“ as a source for meds. Markus Choina had a doctor’s office in Bad Sachsa for years and was named several times as a source of Eufemiano Fuentes. Among others the German cyclist Jörg Jaksche incriminated him: Choina gave him blood transfusions, Jaksche said.
The public prosecutor of Göttingen abandoned the case against Choina 2010 and let him go with a sentence of 5000 Euro. Choina is named as a source of Actovegin, Fuentes allegedly named this med „the German med“. Actovegin, an extract of calf blood, isn’t on the WADA list of illegal substances but WADA observes it carefully.
Did Fuentes have connections to Milan?
According to Gazzetta dello Sport on the documents of the Fuentes trial there is the writing „Milan“. The AC Milan denies every contact to Fuentes.
Yesterday the national coach of Spain, Vicente Del Bosque, said: „I have not seen [doping] before, and don’t think I will see it. My eyes have never seen it, it is a subject that I prefer to ignore.“
