Ferrer: I thought drugs test would see Barça lose European Cup
Ex-Barcelona full-back Albert Ferrer has confessed that he couldn't celebrate the club's maiden continental title until some days later.
Ex-Barcelona defender Albert Ferrer has admitted that he was convinced his post-match drugs test was going to see Los Azulgranas stripped of their 1992 European Cup final triumph.
Speaking to L'Esportiu ahead of Saturday's 25th anniversary of Barça's victory over Sampdoria, Ferrer revealed that medication he had taken for a stomach bug left him fretting - rather than celebrating - after Johan Cruyff's side had clinched the club's first ever continental crown at Wembley.
Albert Ferrer: "Party? What party?"
"Party in the dressing room? What party? I was selected for drug testing! A fortnight after the final, I was still worried," said Ferrer, who played the entirety of the extra-time win, which was sealed by a 112th-minute Ronald Koeman free-kick.
"The game finished, we went up to the royal box, they hung the medals around our necks, we came down the steps really happy and [matchday delegate Carlos] Naval, I think it was, came up to me and said: 'You've got to go and do a drugs test.'
"When I got back to the dressing room, there was nobody left; no party, no nothing. And to top it off, I started to think: 'What if the doctor forgot to put down the medication he gave me, something shows up, I test positive and they take the trophy away from us?'"
The retired former Spain international, who also spent five years in the Premier League with Chelsea, even began imagining the fall-out. "I could see the headlines: 'Ferrer's positive test deprives Barça of European title'. I knew that no doping had taken place, that it was impossible, but what can I say? I got paranoid."
"That day I said: 'Great, we're European champions'"
His mind was finally put at rest as he was preparing to play for Spain at that summer's Barcelona Olympics. "I had joined up with the squad and was phoning the club every day [...] until one day they called me: 'The results have arrived'. And that day I said: 'Great, we're European champions'.
"You wouldn't believe the weight that was taken off my shoulders."
