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Former Arsenal and Manchester City midfielder Sami Nasri has been banned from football for 6 months following an intravenous drip treatment he received at a Los Angeles clinic in December 2016, reports The Sun.
Nasri, who was on loan to Sevilla from City at the time of the incident, which occurred whilst he was on holiday in the USA. Feeling unwell, he contacted a private medical company, Drip Doctors, who treated him in his hotel room, giving him 500 millilitres of hydration in the form of sterile water containing micronutrient components.
That is 10 times above the level which the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) rules allow in a 6-hour period for an active athlete.
A retrospective appeal by Sevilla in February 2017 for a TUE (Therapeutic Use Exemption) was turned down by UEFA, a decision later upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Now Nasri’s legal representative Juan de Dias Crespo Perez has confirmed to the Press Association that the player, who is currently without a club following an unsuccessful spell with Turkish club Antalyaspor, must serve a six month suspension from the game.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.