CSKA Moscow avoid Uefa ban

Ignashevich reportedly had a ‘severe cold’ requiring Sudafed [GALLO/GETTY]

CSKA Moscow will not be kicked out of the European Champions League despite two players failing post-match doping tests, Uefa have announced.

Uefa said the unnamed stimulant found in samples given by defenders Sergei
Ignashevich and Alexei Berezutsky after a 3-3 draw against English champions Manchester United last month is not serious enough to impose a team punishment.

The European body’s rules allow a maximum penalty of a one-year ban for
the players if the substance is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s “specified” list.

Ignashevich and Berezutsky will have their case heard by Uefa’s disciplinary panel on December 17 – one day before CSKA Moscow features in the draw for the knockout round.

Suspension

Uefa suspended them from CSKA’s match at Turkish champions Besiktas, but the Russians won 2-1 to advance from the group along with United.

CSKA officials said the club omitted the drug Sudafed from a list of medication it handed to doping officials after its November 3 match at Old Trafford.

Ignashevich and Berezutsky were fighting off a severe cold after playing for the national team in a World Cup qualifier, the club said.

The substance is not prohibited but Uefa insists it must be told of its use for therapeutic reasons.

The players could receive just a warning if Uefa is satisfied that their case was “arising from a positive test for a ‘specified’ substance.”

Uefa can banish teams from its competitions if at least two players are caught using a more powerful doping product that is on a list of prohibited, or “nonspecified,” substances.