A German Football Association's (DFB) anti-doping doctor has resigned after a picture of Schalke's Kevin-Prince Boateng drinking beer and smoking while being tested for drugs appeared in a newspaper.
Boateng was injured in Wednesday's 6-1 last 16, first-leg drubbing by Real Madrid -- the heaviest home defeat suffered by a German team in Champions League history.
It capped an unfortunate few days for the Ghana midfielder after the picture appeared in German daily Bild earlier this week.
A Bild reader had submitted the shot showing Boateng, still in his Schalke kit, blowing cigarette smoke and holding a half-drunk bottle of beer.
The assistant of the doctor in charge is said to have taken the picture while Boateng was being drugs tested by the DFB after Schalke's 2-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen a fortnight ago.
Leverkusen denied any responsibility as the picture was taken in a DFB-controlled area of their BayArena stadium.
"The DFB has looked into the case immediately and thoroughly," the DFB's media director Ralf Koettker told SID, an AFP subsidiary.
"In a telephone conversation with Dr. Rainer Koch (a DFB vice-president in charge of anti-doping) the doping control doctor admitted the wrong doing of his assistant.
"He asked the anti-doping commission chairman to release him from his duties."
On Tuesday, Schalke's director of sport Horst Heldt had threatened legal action over the picture.
