Arsene Wenger tells football to wake up to doping threat

Arsene Wenger says football cannot close its eyes to the threat of doping and must introduce more comprehensive testing.

Wenger has long been an advocate of blood testing in football and, in an interview with L'Equipe Sport and Style, he suggested "many teams" over the years did not share his opposition to doping.

Those comments from the Arsenal manager were made against the backdrop of the ongoing scandal in athletics.

And expanding on the theme at his weekly press conference he said: "To think we in football are just immune because we are football players is absolutely wrong.

"What I want is deeper tests, better tests, because what we test is superficial. And as well that when people are caught that they are punished and that the clubs are punished as well.

"We have to tackle these problems and not to close our eyes, because it's a little bit unreasonable to think just because we are football we have no problems with it.

"Today, when you play away in the Champions League, most of the time we lose two hours when there is a doping control because people cannot fulfil the [urine] tests.

"With a little blood test it takes a minute and you can test for much more. It's simple. Why can we not do it? And in the other sports they do it."

Dinamo Zagreb player Arijan Ademi failed a drug test after a Champions League win against Arsenal earlier this season, although the results of his 'B' sample are not yet known.