Mamadou Sakho reveals lawyer is handling his case after bungling Uefa and Wada bosses robbed him of Euro 2016
The Liverpool-owned Crystal Palace defender also missed the Europa League final after testing positive for higenamine
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MAMADOU SAKHO is setting his lawyer on the bungling officials who robbed the Liverpool-owned Crystal Palace star of the chance to play for France at their home Euro 2016.
Uefa and the World Anti-Doping Agency are blaming each other after Sakho was suspended in April 2016 after testing positive for using fat burner higenamine.
In early June Uefa absolved Sakho of taking a performance-enhancing drug and on Thursday they revealed that higenamine is not even on Wada’s prohibited list.
The centre-back missed the Europa League final with Liverpool and he was omitted from France’s squad for the European Championships and now his legal team are on the case as he looks to rebuild his career.
Eagles star Sakho told the Guardian: “I worked so hard to prepare myself for the European Championship, to help my country, to wear the France shirt in a tournament on home soil.
“Now I'll never do that. Whatever they say or do, they cannot replace what they took away from me.
“My lawyer can see what happens next but, for me, I focus on other things.
“I have learned in life you should never look back over your shoulder, wondering what might have been. That is the past.”
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The defender has revealed that watching his family breakdown in tears was the hardest part of the miscarriage of justice.
He said: “The hardest moment was when I saw my Mum, my sister, my brother, my wife in tears … they didn’t understand the situation.
“That was difficult, seeing them upset. They were devastated, but I was there trying to explain to them I had done nothing wrong, and that everything would be alright. It would all be fixed.
“I was actually quite calm, quite peaceful, and just trying to reassure them. It was a time for me to be strong, and those who are close to me had faith.
“We knew that, eventually, I would be proved right.”