Manchester United defender Phil Jones banned for two European matches after verbally abusing officials at a drugs test following the Europa League final

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Manchester United defender Phil Jones has been banned for two matches after he verbally abused a UEFA anti-doping officer at the Europa League final.

The 25-year-old, also fined €5,000 (£4,500) ‘for not immediately going to the doping control room’, will miss the Super Cup final against Real Madrid next week and United’s first Champions League match. 

Team-mate Daley Blind was also fined for a delay in reporting to the doping control room, with the Europa League winners fined a further €10,000 (£9,000). 

Manchester United defender Phil Jones was an unused substitute for the Europa League final

Jones was an unused substitute in the 2-0 victory over Ajax in May. It is understood that the England international gave blood and urine samples but expressed frustration to officials that he had missed a dressing-room photoshoot aimed at honouring the victims of the Manchester terror attack, which occurred two days earlier.

Jones was charged for insulting and directing abusive language towards the doping control officer, along with a ‘lack of co-operation and respect towards the doping control procedure’.

Blind was charged for ‘violation and non-compliance’ with UEFA anti-doping regulations, which state that ‘every player designated to undergo a doping control is personally responsible for reporting immediately to the doping control station as notified’.

Both were keen to celebrate with team-mates and to be in the picture, in which United’s staff held a banner emblazoned with the words: ‘Manchester — a City United’. Blind did so and was accompanied by a UEFA chaperone to ensure he could not interfere with a drugs test. 

Jones was unable to attend this photoshoot honouring Manchester terror attack victims

Both Jones and Daley Blind were fined £4,475 for violating UEFA Anti-Doping regulations

But his failure to immediately report to the doping control station saw him fined. The World Anti-Doping Agency code states that such offences fall under the jurisdiction of the sport’s governing body. 

‘Offensive conduct towards a doping control official or other person involved in doping control which does not otherwise constitute tampering shall be addressed in the disciplinary rules of sport organisations,’ it states.

UEFA said on Monday night: ‘Phil Jones was given a two-match suspension for using offensive language towards the doping control officer (Article 15.1 (b) of the disciplinary regulations) and was fined €5,000 for not immediately going to the doping control room (article 6.05 of the anti-doping regulations).’

Article 15.1 (b) does indeed state that directing abusive language at a match official — ‘a match official also refers to a doping control officer,’ says the UEFA rule book — can lead to ‘suspension for two competition matches or a specified period’.

Jones (right) lines up with Michael Carrick before the pre-season match against Valerenga

Further to that, paragraph 29 of the anti-doping regulations makes it clear that ‘the team concerned is responsible for ensuring that the players drawn to undergo a doping control are informed and instructed to report to the doping control station within 60 minutes of being notified or as otherwise instructed by the doping control officer’. Hence United’s fine.

This is not the first time United have encountered issues with doping control officers. In 2003 Rio Ferdinand was banned for eight months for leaving the club’s training ground after being informed that he had been selected to give an out-of-competition drugs test.

United declined to comment on the incidents in May. They have three days to appeal and were undecided on the matter on Monday night.