In an interview with Argentine journalist Juan Pablo Varsky for Clank Media, Alejandro “Papu” Gómez spoke for the first time about the doping case that sidelined him for two years. He revealed that he found out about the positive test just two days before the World Cup final against France, a revelation he chose to keep to himself at the time.
The former Sevilla player also reflected on the end of his career but avoided addressing the curious circumstances surrounding his departure from Lionel Scaloni’s squad.
“I received an email two days before the final (against France) informing me I had tested positive. Getting news like that before the World Cup final is horrible. I got sick during those two days, had a fever—my immune system probably took a hit. I was completely down. Imagine celebrating but constantly thinking about what was going to happen.
“I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want the team to focus on anything other than playing the World Cup final. It felt selfish to burden the guys with such bad news right before such an important match, so I decided to keep it to myself until after the game.”
Papu Gómez tested positive in a routine UEFA anti-doping control in mid-November 2022 while still playing for Sevilla, just before the Qatar World Cup. However, the news didn’t come to light until almost a year later, when he was already at Monza, where he only managed to play two matches.
He was sanctioned for “gross negligence” after consuming terbutaline, a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), although it does not enhance performance. A day after the news broke, the player issued a statement on social media explaining that he had accidentally taken his young son’s cough syrup.
Gómez also shared how his Argentina teammates reacted to the news: “When you hear something like that, there’s not much to say. You just go, ‘What a mess. Stay calm, it’ll work out,’ normal things. You can’t say much more. Afterward, we flew to Argentina, a 30-hour trip, with celebrations and chaos—everything went back to normal, and everyone moved on with their lives.”
“They suspended me from all sports-related activities, including coaching, management, everything,” Gómez explained to Clank Media. With the intention of passing the time more quickly, he tried enrolling in a coaching course but was also denied. “That hit me hard, but it’s part of what I’m going through,” he admitted.
The former Atalanta player also opened up about the emotional process of saying goodbye to the character that had defined him as a World Cup champion:
“Accepting that the character might be coming to an end… I’m just an ordinary person, a family man, and maybe ‘Papu Gómez’ is ceasing to exist—or will cease to exist.”
“I’ve been working on that, on dialing back the ego a bit. Trying to live not as the character, but as Alejandro, to find balance. As a young player, you build this character, this ego, and people put you on a pedestal. Now, going from being a World Cup champion to not getting calls anymore, disappearing from the spotlight, or not playing at all—you have to learn to live with that.”
When asked about his departure from the Argentina national team, Gómez chose instead to highlight his final triumph: winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“I’ll always treasure the entire journey, from the day we arrived in Qatar to living the dream of playing in a World Cup—that’s the ultimate. And everything we went through to reach that final day, which was the goal.”
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