Eintracht Frankfurt have said they are shocked at how club captain Marco Russ, who was diagnosed with a tumour disease this week after failing a drugs test, has been treated by the authorities.
Russ, 30, and Frankfurt were informed by the German FA's anti-doping commission that the player had failed a drug test following the club's match at SV Darmstadt earlier this month.
The test showed elevated levels of the hormone hCG, an indicator for either the use of anabolic steroids or a cancerous disease. The club immediately arranged for further examinations, following which Russ was diagnosed.
GET WELL SOON!
Marco Russ was diagnosed with a tumour disease.
We wish you all the best Marco, keep up the fight! pic.twitter.com/uKuVoa2zGs- Eintracht Frankfurt (@eintracht_eng) May 19, 2016
In the wake of the failed test, and despite a sworn statement from one of Frankfurt's club doctors that Russ had been subsequently diagnosed with cancer, Frankfurt prosecution raided his home and team hotel room on Wednesday.
The German anti-doping agency NADA is obliged to report failed drugs tests to the state prosecution and a spokesperson told Frankfurter Rundschau that Russ had agreed to the measures taken.
In spite of the news, the club captain vowed to play in the first leg of his club's relegation play-off against second tier side Nurnberg.
Russ scored an own goal shortly before half-time in Thursday's 1-1 draw and later picked up a suspension when he received his 10th yellow card of the season. He will not take part in the second leg at Nurnberg on Monday as Frankfurt look to retain their Bundesliga status.
Russ' disease, as well as the prosecution's actions, featured heavily in Eintracht's postmatch interviews.
"The way things unfolded yesterday, honestly, I have to say that's a piece of impudence," Frankfurt coach Niko Kovac told reporters at a news conference.
"You can't do what happened at the team hotel yesterday, and I did not expect it. I was just shocked. You get a confirmation from the doctor and there are many witnesses, me being one of them, that Russ is ill, and still somebody does not believe it and searches the hotel room and the home."
Russ did not comment. He will undergo surgery as soon as possible.