Mamadou Sakho speaks out on Liverpool exit, Jurgen Klopp spat and doping ban

Jurgen Klopp and former Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho

Via echo

Liverpool will return to action after the international break at home to Everton on Wednesday

Currently 12 points clear at the top of the table, it makes the start of the Premier League title run-in for the Reds as they look to finish the season as champions.

Midweek Anfield Merseyside derbies have served Liverpool well in recent years.

From Steven Gerrard’s hat-trick in March 2012, two 4-0 thrashings of their local rivals in January 2014 and April 2016, and a 5-2 downing of the Blues in December 2019

one of the aforementioned derbies proved to be the end for one former Reds star.

Mamadou Sakho scored Liverpool’s second goal in that second 4-0 thrashing in April 2016 and was in the form of his Reds career at the time

Having also scored in his previous start, in the famous 4-3 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League quarter-finals, it was shaping up to be a big summer for the Frenchman.

There would be a Europa League final to look forward to, as Liverpool faced Sevilla in Basel

while Sakho was set to represent France as they hosted Euro 2016. But such opportunities were about to be stolen away from him.

Days after scoring against Everton, it was announced that the defender was being investigated by UEFA for violating an anti-doping rule

With it decided he would be unavailable for selection during the investigation, he was then slapped with a 30-day provisional suspension from world football.

When the ban expired on May 28, it was not extended.

But by this point, Liverpool had already lost the Europa League final without him and France had left him out of their squad for the European Championship.

UEFA dismissed the case the following July after it was found that the substance he tested positive for, higenamine (found in weight-loss supplements) was not specifically on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list

But by then, the damage for Sakho was already done.

Sure, in November 2020, he eventually won a financial settlement and apology from WADA for defamation and received substantial damages.

But the 35-year-old considers the doping accusations as the moment that changed his entire career.

Sakho

“I was at my top of my career, playing in the national team for France, playing for Liverpool,”

“Yeah, of course (scoring against Dortmund and Everton are highlights). I think it was my last two games with Liverpool.

“I was really confident that everything was going well before the doping story came out and changed the road of my career.

“But yeah, I accept it. I believe in God. Everything that had to happen to me in my life and my story, I take it and I just look forward.

“When you've been accused for something that was wrong, and you fight for years to prove you didn't cheat or you didn't do anything wrong. And at the end, you clean your name.

“It was something really, really good for me to clean my dad's name, and make my family proud also.

“So yeah, in the end, it was good to win because I was right.

“But of course, it was something that changed the road of my career, you know? But yeah, I accept it. What can you do? Nothing. Just look forward and be positive in life.”

Now playing in Georgia with Torpedo Kutaisi, Sakho would never make another appearance for Liverpool after scoring against Everton nine years ago.