In an interview with “Marca”, the Cameroonian expressed incomprehension about the scale of the punishment and revealed how the so-called wrongly taking a pill belonging to the woman happened.
Away from the field for nine months, after a punishment imposed by UEFA in the face of an anti-doping test in which he accused the use of a diuretic, André Onana, Ajax’s Cameroon goalkeeper, considered that the sanction, even if shortened, was inappropriate.
“I thought it was barbaric. I tested positive due to a weight loss pill when I didn’t even have liquid to retain. They reduced the penalty because they realized it was a bit unfair. Still, it was too long due to a pill that doesn’t add anything,” he said the guardian, alluding to the fact that the Court of Arbitration for Sport has reduced the sentence from 12 to nine months (until November).
The TAS decided, on appeal, to reduce the punishment imposed by UEFA on Onana last February, considering a “more proportionate” suspension, bearing in mind that the footballer has “no significant flaws” in his career.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper “Marca”, the Ajax goalkeeper, in a memory exercise, detailed how, according to him, he was mistaken in taking a medication and, therefore, led to his suspension from professional football.
“After the meeting with Atalanta [empate a 2 na época passada], I woke up with a headache and went to take a drug that had been prescribed, but my wife, who had just given birth, had a similar one, which is used for fluid retention, and I took it accidentally,” she began by remembering André Onana.
Four weeks after this episode, which culminated in an anti-doping test at Ajax’s premises, the goalkeeper was informed that he had failed to comply with UEFA regulations on substance use.
“On that day, I was the first to have doping control and go home. A month later, I was in Cameroon, they told me I had tested positive. I told the doctor something was wrong. I didn’t know what it was. Then it was my wife who told me they were pills the doctor had prescribed,” continued Onana.
The 25-year-old international from Cameroon, accused in urine tests, in an unexpected anti-doping control, the substance furosemide, a diuretic, which belonged to the woman. “It’s amazing how a 40-milligram pill can destroy your life, your career and tarnish your image”, summarized Onana.
Aware that he would not play again for months on end, Onana assumed, in an interview with “Marca”, the disturbance caused at a personal level, assuring that he never had behaviors that were harmful to health, and pointed out the lack of sensitivity in football.
“Psychologically it’s very difficult. I thought about how I would tell my parents. I’ve never smoked or drank in my life. It was so hard that sometimes I doubted myself. This is what makes you learn and makes you stronger. In football there is no humanity. For some we are robots and we have no right to fail,” concluded the Ajax goalkeeper, now “happy” to finally return to Ajax’s squad.
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