Osasuna 2005-06 Spanish Champs? That’s Kind of Dopey

By: Bob | December 8th, 2006

Attention kids reading this blog. See the picture of the man to the left? That’s Barcelona’s Tiago Motta. See the expression on his face? That’s what will happen to you if you partake in doping. Doping makes you mean and ugly and likely to want to bite the heads off of chickens. Don’t be a doper. Stay in school and be cool. Now that we’ve gotten that public service announcement out of the way, let’s talk a bit about the real reason why Motta looks so utterly constipated in the photo.

At a news conference on Friday, the Barcelona player was asked about allegations that his club was involved with the notorious Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. Cycling fans know Fuentes very well. He’s the guy who allegedly helped those pedaling maniacs cheat the system by doping. The French daily Le Monde ran an article Thursday accusing Barcelona, Real, Valencia and Real Betis of using the good doctor’s services. Motta, and all of the clubs, have denied being involved with Fuentes, who would have had to have been a virtual 24/7 doping vending machine to have done everything he’s been accused of.

Usually stories of doping allegations make my eyes roll into the back of my head and the drool pour out of my mouth. Doping happens. There will always be some that cheat and get away with it and there will always be some that cheat and get busted. None of us will ever really know who is telling the truth and who is lying. We all pick a side, argue about it over a pint at the pub and then forget about it.

I was almost willing to ignore the Spanish football allegations completely until I read about some of the reactions of Osasuna fans. You’ll recall that Osasuna finished in fourth place in La Liga last year right behind, you guessed it, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia. This has led some in the Osasuna media and some fans to claim that their club should be awarded the title because they didn’t cheat and obviously the other clubs did. Kind of like what we saw last year in Serie A with Inter being awarded the title after Juventus’ fall from grace.

I’ll give the Osasuna fans some credit for creativity and for wishful thinking, but we all know that Osasuna will be the 2005-06 champs the same day that the World Cup final is replayed. Never. Undoubtedly there will be some investigations into the matter, but unless Ronaldinho and Ronaldo play their next matches with hypodermic needles sticking out of their arms (who wouldn’t pay to see that?), you’re going to have a hard time convincing me that Spain’s two most prestigious clubs are going to get in the least bit of trouble over all this.