Mamadou Sakho speaks exclusively to the ECHO about the doping ban that derailed his career and his controversial Liverpool exit after falling out with Jurgen Klopp
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Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and former Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho
Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and former Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho
(Image: Getty Images)
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.
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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 as Jurgen Klopp’s men continued on their way to their last Premier League title.
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But while the latest Anfield Merseyside derby will act as the start for what Liverpool hope will be a successful march toward being named champions of England, 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, having been tested the previous month. 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. They too would go on to suffer a final defeat without Sakho.
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.
“I was at my top of my career, playing in the national team for France, playing for Liverpool,” he concedes in an exclusive interview with the ECHO. “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.
He had been welcomed back into the Reds first team picture after UEFA dismissed the case against him, only for his Anfield career to unravel for different reasons weeks later.
He would infamously be sent home from Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States, with it emerging he had been late for the club’s flight, a team meal and a treatment session as he recovered from injury.
This was enough for Klopp to banish the Frenchman, with Sakho then demoted to train with the Under-23s as a result.
There has always been a fascination in the Reds fanbase regarding the mysterious nature of the defender’s Liverpool exit and his falling out with Klopp.
Sakho is not ready to tell his full side of the story just yet, but admits he will share the truth on his own terms one day.
For now, he is willing to admit he thinks ‘small things’ were used as ‘excuses’ against him, but insists he holds no ill-feeling towards Klopp.
“Good relationship because I'm not a negative man,” he said. “I always respect. I like his type of football.
“But football is football. So a few moments, you need to make some decisions and that's it. It's football.
“And I think you can see many examples. Sometimes the fans, they don't understand why this player leaves when this player is here. Also, sometimes you have some players where they ask ‘why are they here?’ But as I said, it's football.
“It's not my point. It's just football. Sometimes few things happen inside. I cannot talk about it, but it's like this. It's football.
“Small things are always good to take as an excuse. But the reality wasn't this. But it's fine, you know?
“But seriously, because a player is late to eat, the time's 7.15 and he comes at 7.18, now he leaves the club? Come on.
“What I wrote (on Snapchat) was the truth. But the truth always takes the stairs and the lie takes the elevator.
“You have football that people see, and you have few things inside but they cannot talk about it. So I always keep it for me as a man and that's it.
“I never talk and I would not speak for the moment because it's not important. I really enjoy my time in Liverpool.
“Yeah, it was a really great moment for me in my career. And that's it. I told you, I'm a positive man. So I don't like to speak about the inside of football, you know?
“I will speak about it one day, of course. Of course one day I will speak. But not now, it is not the right moment.
“When I do my documentary of my career and of my life, all the truth will go out in that moment, just for fun.”
After being bombed out by Klopp, Sakho eventually joined Crystal Palace on loan in January 2017. They would then sign him permanently on transfer deadline day the following August for £26m.
By then, the defender had already upset some Liverpool supporters, having come down to the sidelines to celebrate with Christian Benteke with a secret handshake after the Belgian’s brace earned the Eagles a 2-1 win at Anfield in April 2017. Sakho was still a contracted Reds player at the time, though ineligible to face his parent club.
The 35-year-old admits he is sorry if he upset any fans that day, but insists that was never his intention.
“I just celebrated with my team-mate. That's it,” he said. “He came to me, I was on the bench and I couldn't play. We just did our handshake.
“He promised me if he scored, he will come to me. So I cannot stay sitting. So yeah, it's part of the game. But I take responsibility for everything I do.
“And of course, if I hurt some fans, it wasn't my intention. But I just celebrated with my team-mate who scored and that's it. But I respect the club and I respect all the fans and they know already.”
Sakho admits he wishes he had been able to stay at Liverpool, but insists he has no regrets about his Reds career.
“Of course (I would have loved to stay). Of course, because before I left, I signed a new contract, four years,” he said. “The plan was for me to continue my career at Liverpool.
“But as I said, when few things happen inside, it cannot. It’s football. That's it.
"I don't have any regrets personally. I give my 100% for this club. I fight, I give my maximum every game and I'm really proud to live in this city, to play in this stadium, to have this connection with the fans.
“So I always keep on these positive things and I love the people who work in the club. Everything was really great for me.”