Bad news for Liverpool fans has broken this morning after it emerged that defender Mamadou Sakho has accepted the findings of UEFA's drugs test which found him guilty of having traces of a fat burner in the sample he gave following a Europa League tie with Manchester United.
It was expected that UEFA would carry out a test of a 'B' sample but that would now appear to be an unnecessary procedure with Sakho accepting his guilt and now awaiting a ban.
The length of the ban the French defender will receive is likely to be between six months to two years, ruling him out of the remainder of this season, Euro 2016 and the first three months of the 2016/17 Premier League campaign, at least.
However, the Liverpool Echo are also reporting that Sakho will plead mitigating circumstances in a bid to keep the ban as minimal as possible.
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Mamadou Sakho will plead mitigating factors to UEFA as he battles to avoid a long suspension for failing a drugs test.
The £18million defender could be banned for up to two years but with mitigation that could be reduced to as low as six months.
Sakho arrived at Anfield for a fee of £18m from PSG in 2013.
(H/T 101 Great Goals)