Graeme Souness has questioned Gary Neville’s claims after the Manchester United legend made a powerful doping accusation that Roy Keane agreed with him on.
Gary Neville enjoyed incredible success at Old Trafford and lifted two Champions League titles with Manchester United under former manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Roy Keane also lifted a Champions League trophy at United, with the Irishman and Neville both being key parts of Ferguson’s iconic treble-winning team in 1999.
But Neville and Keane opened up on the Red Devils’ difficulty in Europe, with the pair defending one of their ex-United teammates over the criticism he received.
Keane, who was linked with two elite clubs in his legendary United career, also revealed to Neville that he dreaded playing against two European teams.
However, the two former United stars also made bold – and unsubstantiated – claims about some of the teams they played against in the Champions League.
What did Neville and Keane say?
Speaking on the Stick to Football show, Gary Neville said he suspected some of the teams that Manchester United played against in Europe were not always clean.
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher suggested that it “must [have] be the Italian teams,” while Ian Wright quizzed former United captain Neville on his eyebrow-raising claim.
“There are a couple that stick in my mind […] I think there were a few teams that we played against that weren’t clean,” Neville said on the show.
“We thought it at the time.”
Sky Sports pundit Neville went on to point out that performance-enhancing stimulants and doping allegations have arisen in other sports, including cycling.
He added: “My point is that when you look back now at what came out after in cycling and other sports and [with] doctors […] we thought at the time there were things that physically [were not correct], because sorry, we were fit, we weren’t drinkers, we were fit [so we thought], ‘That’s not right. There’s something not right.’
“I came off the pitch against an Italian team and thought, ‘That’s not right.’ I know that a couple of the other lads in the mid-2000s thought exactly the same thing.”
Roy Keane did not disagree with his former United teammate’s accusation and admitted that he would be “absolutely shattered” playing against some teams.
“When we played certain teams, I would be walking off and you were absolutely shattered,” he said.
“I remember it. I would be looking at the players I played against, a couple of the Italian teams, and they looked like they’d not even played a match.”
Souness responds to Man Utd legend Neville
Speaking in his column for The Daily Mail, Graeme Souness hit back at Neville and claimed he was dropping a “fair old accusation” that had previously been made.
“I hope Gary Neville can back up his claims that Italian teams were doping when they played against Manchester United,” he said.
“It’s a fair old accusation to make and you’d like to think he had evidence.
“Does this now mean that because English clubs are very good on the European stage that other countries will think we’re doping our players? I don’t think so.
“I played in Italy for two years with Sampdoria and never witnessed any doping or even heard any rumours about it.
“They enhanced their performance by being better than others at preparation and recuperation.
“They were way ahead of us in terms of what foods you put in your body and at what times. I learnt so much in my time there on this subject and came back better for it.
“They also cut out alcohol and were big on things like stretching. You add all of that to what were already the best footballers in the world and it’s no wonder Italian clubs consistently performed so well on the continent.”
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