EURO 84
Spain football team accused of doping in famous qualifying win
In a TV show aired on Monday, suspicions were also voiced that opponents Malta were drugged in Spain's 12-1 victory in 1983.
Over three decades after thrashing Malta in Seville to clinch an unlikely European Championship place, Spain have been accused by the minnows of doping their way to the famous victory.
Needing to beat the Maltese by an 11-goal margin to make Euro '84, La Roja netted as many times as they had in the rest of their qualifying campaign to win the December 1983 clash 12-1.
The result, secured by Juan Antonio Señor's memorable late strike, left Spain level on points and goal difference with the Netherlands at the top of Group 7, and saw them take the section's sole qualification spot on goals scored.
"The energy the Spaniards had wasn't normal"
Speaking to Monday's edition of the Spanish television show 'Fiebre Maldini', Malta's scorer that night, Silvio Demanuele, said: "I have a brother who was a body-builder, and I know what happens when people take steroids.
"The energy that the Spaniards had wasn't normal. Some of them were foaming at the mouth; an acidic liquid was coming out of their mouths and they couldn't stop drinking water. I know what happens when people take steroids."
Maltese suspicions they were drugged at half time
Meanwhile, Malta's then coach, Victor Scerri, also spoke of the visitors' suspicions that they were given a performance-diminishing drug in a batch of half-time lemons at the Estadio Benito Villamarín.
"A short man dressed in white came in and offered us a tray of sliced lemons," Scerri recalled. "That was the only thing we were offered. The players sucked on them and then felt unwell.
"I was asked: 'Do you think they could have drugged them [the players]?' We don't have proof; I hope that Spain wouldn't have done anything like that."
Demanuele added: "When I sucked on those lemons, I felt drunk, as if I had been out partying all night."
