Spanish second division player Borja Criado said on Thursday he was trying to prevent baldness and not improve his performance after being handed a two-year ban for the use of a drug to combat hair-loss.

The Granada 74 midfielder tested positive for the banned masking agent Finasteride while playing for Ciudad de Murcia in February last season, but was originally cleared by the Spanish Football Federation.
 

However, the 25-year-old, who said he had taken the treatment because of hair-loss caused by stress while studying for a law degree, has been suspended for two years by the Spanish Committee for Sports Discipline after an appeal.

"A dermatologist recommended I take a medicine called propecia," Criado told a news conference. "I accept my part of the blame for taking it, but I think I'm being used as a scapegoat.

"I haven't taken this substance to improve my sporting performance, it was only to deal with the problem I had."

Criado joins a growing list of sportsmen who have been banned for testing positive for Finasteride after using hair-loss treatments.
 

Finasteride, which can be used to mask steroids, was added to the list of banned substances in 2005.

Last month Brazilian footballer Romario was banned for 120 days for testing positive for the drug, a result which he also blamed on hair-loss treatment.

German second division soccer player Nemanja Vucicevic of TSV Munich 1860 and Argentine tennis player Mariano Hood were both banned after positive tests in 2005.

Former Australia international soccer player Stan Lazaridis and New Zealand tennis player Mark Nielsen have also received bans for taking the substance.

U.S. skeleton gold medal hope Zach Lund was kicked out of the 2006 Winter Olympics and given a one-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after testing positive at a World Cup event the previous year.