The mysterious horse placenta healer

After the F.A. booked a low-cost short haul airplane to transport multi-million pound footballers to Doha (a seven hour journey), Frank Lampard suffered a strain in his thigh. He`s the latest Premier League footballer to call on the services of mysterious Serbian doctor Marijana Kovacevic.

The unknown healer has become a talking point in Serbia, mainly because nobody really knows very much about her. Serbian magazine 'Vreme` investigated.

According to the magazine, it all started when the famous football players from English Premier League arrived for a treated by the Belgrade 'doctor`, Marijana Kovacevic, already well known to Serbian football players but unknown to Serbian Medical Chamber and Health Minister. Arsenal`s Robin van Persie and four Liverpool players - first Albert Riera and Yossi Benayoun, and then Fabio Aurelio and Glenn Johnson - were in Belgrade and they felt better. The proof is obvious, Benayoun scored a goal in the game against Manchester City on Saturday, despite the predictions were that he would not be able to get on the field for at least two more weeks.

The arrival of so many famous players sparked an interest in Kovacevic, and the local press discovered that she refuses to talk with the inspection from the Health Ministry. Allegedly, according to the press, Interior Ministry and Health Ministry unsuccessfully attempt to find the mysterious healer. She is nowhere to be found. Her office in New Belgrade where she used to work is closed, and those who have their phone number or are aware of her whereabouts obviously refuse to give that information. Anxious to track her down, authorities were reduced to staking out flights arriving from the UK at Belgrade`s Nicola Tesla airport to try to tail any footballers in the hope they could lead officials to the healer.

According to domestic football players, Kovacevic can reduce a recovery after muscle injuries or ruptures of calf, hamstring, thigh or ligaments for one third of the recovery period. The ingredients of the recipe that everyone talks about are the liquid from the placenta of a horse, electric waves and 'a little bit of psychology`. The question is, of course, is this treatment specific and accurate, considering that everything that the public found out about the treatment came out from the patients.

Everything about Kovacevic is under the veil of secrecy. Some say she is a housewife, others that she is a pharmacist. They say she dresses extravagantly, often all black, that she uses a lot of makeup and that she looks like Morticia Addams. She is married to one of the local owners of a chain of betting club and she is the mother of three children. She used to live in Azerbaijan. Allegedly, she already refused several offers of the famous football clubs to work for them.

The price of the treatment is most likely 3000 Euros, but the first information was that the price is 50 i.e. 500 Euros (allegedly 50 Euros per treatment, and ten treatments are necessary). However, it seems that the duration of the treatment depends on the type of injury.

The experts we talked with are doubtful that horse placenta can produce such miracles, and any patients who have failed to recover have not been located. One, however, who did has spoken: above-mentioned Liverpool midfielder Yossi Benayoun. The Israeli reveals that it is actually human placenta, rather than horse afterbirth. "There was no animal parts used and no injections,", he said. "The doctor has treated a lot of players and it seems to be held in very high regard. She explained everything to me beforehand and told me she would use fluid from a placenta that had come from a woman."

"Nothing went into the muscle itself. It was a case of massaging the liquid around the affected area. It meant I was able to play again and help the team at an important time within a fortnight. I never envisaged being on the pitch again so soon, and it shows what can be done with this treatment."

Several things are certainly obvious: many Serbian football players visited her, and the official therapists just heard of her. Marijana Kovacevic, if that is her real name, works for seven years now, and there are no records about her private practice in the Serbian Medical Chamber. Placenta has been used for healing for a long time now, but is it possible that all laboratories failed to discover the magical healing effect of the animal placenta (or, if Benayoun is to be believed, human placenta?). Finally, people in Belgrade are wondering, if she is so good, is there no way to reach her, to offer her the working conditions she desires, and not to let another successful person run away from Serbia.

According to the latest announcements, Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres, are coming to Belgrade. They will probably have no difficulty to contact Marijana Kovacevic. The initial prognosis was that Frank would be out for 3 weeks after the F.A.`s cack-handed flight cock-up. If he lines up on Sunday against an Arsenal that also contains a fully-fit Robin Van Persie, we will know that this mysterious Marijana Kovacevic is as good as her reputation.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.