NORWAY’S manager asked his country’s Anti-Doping Agency: “Is there a hidden camera?”
This came after the Norwegian anti-doping agency selected two players who have been DEAD for more than 41 years.
Norway‘s boss Stale Solbakken and his squad had a surprise visit by drug-testers before their Nations League fixtures kick-off this week.
The agency selected Manchester City duo Erling Haaland and Oscar Bobb for a urine sample, and to the surprise of everybody present – two players who sadly died many years ago.
Testers called for Jorgen Juve and Einar Gundersen to be examined, according to The Times.
But Juve, Norway’s all-time top goalscorer, died in 1983 and Gundersen, often regarded as the first Norwegian superstar, passed away in 1962.
Solbakken, 56, told reporters that he started looking around for a hidden camera, believing his team were victims of a possible prank.
It turned out that an agency official had simply picked players from Norway’s all-time top goalscorers’ list with a couple more added on.
Solbakken told a news conference: “We had a visit from Anti-Doping Norway yesterday.
“The following players were selected for testing: Haaland, Jorgen Strand Larsen, Antonio Nusa, Bobb, Gundersen and Juve.
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“Then I start to wonder. These were the names that were read out, and it was serious. So we had to call Anti-Doping Norway and ask, ‘Is there a hidden camera?'”
To add the ever growing list of gaffes, Man City’s Bobb could not be tested because he was not in the squad after fracturing his leg before the start of the Premier League season.
Juve, who scored 33 goals for Norway, was born in 1906 and died aged 76 in 1983.
While Gundersen, who scored 26 national goals, was born in 1896 and died in 1962 at 66 years old.
The inevitable Haaland is second on the list at the moment with 31, meaning his next three goals will see him surpass Juve’s record.
Anti-Doping Norway said it was working to clarify how Juve and Gundersen ended up on the list of players to be tested.
Bobb, 21, will miss Norway’s Nations League games against Kazakhstan and Ralf Rangnick’s Austria.
