That was the situation former Bayern Munich captain Stefan Effenberg found himself in after losing the 1999 final to Manchester United and being asked to provide a urine sample for drug-testing purposes.
“That defeat in Barcelona against Manchester United was hard,” Effenberg told Ford’s Feel Football in a video available in FFT.com's ever-expanding interviews archive. “After a game like that, naturally all you want to do is go back to your hotel and curl up in your bed – but (I had) to go for a drug test… after a defeat!
Leading until injury time, Bayern conceded two quick goals in perhaps the most dramatic European Cup finale ever... then Effenberg and others got the call for a random drugs test. “There wasn’t any sense in that at all," he continued. "We’d lost, that was the biggest defeat, and above all else, it was stressful.
"You see the players, Teddy Sheringham was there, they were celebrating of course, and had the Cup with them, and you sit next to them and have to give your sample and have absolutely nothing to celebrate.
“I’d already had to give doping samples and it usually took 15 or 20 minutes. After this final, I was in the cubicle for two-and-a-half hours before I was able to give a sample! It was this huge pressure, this disappointment… but it was also a motivation to say, hey, the Cup, we must bring it to Munich again.”
MOTIVATION
Effenberg says he and Bayern got more motivation two seasons later from much closer to home, when they were lambasted by legend Franz Beckenbaeur following a heavy loss in the second Champions League group stage.
“After the 3-0 defeat against Lyon – a catastrophic result, no doubt about that – a criticism was made, but it should have been kept in-house and not paraded in front of the whole of the media," said Effenberg – who by then was Bayern's captain.
“With Franz Beckenbauer, you know that when he says something, it creates a stir. He says something and he’ll [then] say ‘I don’t know what I said yesterday, and I’m not interested in it anymore’ – and that's Franz. That’s the way we know him.
“The next day, in the locker room, I said this is now the call. Yes, the criticism from Franz is all well and good, but now we're going to show that we're a great team and we’re going to march right into the final and win the cup.
"And we achieved that, and that was the answer to Franz Beckenbauer.”
Indeed, Effenberg led Bayern to Champions League glory, scoring a penalty in the San Siro final against Valencia and another in the subsequent penalty shootout, which the German side won 5-4.
And presumably, Effenberg wasn't asked for another sample after the match...
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