09 February 2024 , 19:11
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Graeme Souness has called on Gary Neville to "back up" his claims after he affirmed suspicions that some "Italian teams" were doping while playing against Manchester United.
Neville, who was speaking alongside former teammate Roy Keane on the the Stick to Football podcast, was a key player for United during the early to mid-2000s, where they regularly competed in the Champions League.
United won the trophy twice during Sir Alex Ferguson 's legendary tenure - but Neville admitted that he felt "a couple of the Italian teams" they played in continental competition "weren't clean", with Keane also referencing the difference in conditioning between United and said opposition post-match.
After stressing that he wasn't attempting to instigate any particular clubs, Neville said: “We thought at the time that there were things like, I’m sorry, physically, we were fit. We weren’t drinkers. We were fit. 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’m sorry. And I know that a couple of the other lads, [in the] mid-2000s thought exactly the same thing.”
But Souness is seemingly less than convinced by the comments made by Neville and Keane, with the former Liverpool man urging the former to back up his claims.
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In his Mail column, he wrote: “I hope Gary Neville can back up his claims that Italian teams were doping when they played against Manchester United. 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.”
Souness, who played in Italy briefly at Sampdoria, went on to outline that not only did he never witness anything untoward during his time abroad, he also quickly recognised how advanced teams in the country were in terms of their preparation and recuperation compared to English clubs.
Neville and Roy Keane voiced their suspicions about previous teams they had played against for Manchester United (YouTube/The Overlap)He continued: “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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