Spain 12-1 Malta: La Roja accused of doping in famous win

In a TV show aired on Monday, Malta's coach and scorer also voiced their suspicions that they were drugged in Spain's memorable 1983 win.

Over three decades after thrashing Malta in Seville to secure an unlikely European Championship place, Spain's players have been accused of doping their way to the famous win.

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 scoreline, completed by Juan Antonio Señor's memorable 84th-minute strike, left Spain level on points and goal difference with the Dutch, and saw Miguel Muñoz's men reach the Euros 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

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. That was the only thing we were offered. The players sucked on them and then felt unwell.

"Someone asked me: 'Do you think they could have drugged you?' We don't have proof; I hope Spain didn't do anything like that. If that did happen, football would be utterly finished."

Demanuele added: "When I sucked on those lemons, I felt drunk, as if I had been out partying all night."