Horse placenta clinic in Belgrade ‘shut down’

The Belgrade clinic of 'Madame Placenta', the Serbian therapist whose 'miracle cure' has been sought by Premier League footballers Robin van Persie, Frank Lampard and Yossi Benayoun among others, has been shut down, according to reports emerging from the Serbian capital.

Only a week after The First Post revealed that van Persie was joining the long line of injured players seeking Mariana Kovacevic's horse placenta therapy, it is alleged that she has never registered with the health authorities nor paid any taxes.

Given the fortunes of the young men who have been visiting her, and the wealth of their respective clubs, that could be a sizeable sum of money the Serbian tax office is missing.

The clinic's closure comes after Benayoun (above), the 29-year-old Israeli who plays with Liverpool, claimed that he too had travelled to Belgrade for Kovacevic's therapy - but that it was human placenta not horse placenta that she rubbed into the affected area.

"She explained everything to me beforehand," said Benayoun, "and told me she would be using fluid from a placenta that had come from a woman.

"Nothing went into the muscle itself. It was just a case of massaging the liquid on to the skin around the affected area."

According to the Serbian website Blic online, Benayoun must have got it wrong because there are strict rules governing the disposal of placentas at Belgrade's maternity hospitals.

Blic also reports that the Serbian health authorities have no knowledge of a 'Doctor Mariana Kovacevic' treating sports injuries. A health authority source told Blic: "There is nobody under that name with registered private medical practice. There is only one medic with that name but dealing with completely different field of medicine."

Whatever Benayoun was treated with - and whoever administered it - he is convinced it helped get him fit only four days after his injury. "I never envisaged being on the pitch again so soon, and it shows what can be done with this treatment."

Arsenal's Dutch striker van Persie, who had placenta juice massaged into the ankle he injured earlier this month, is also won over. "It's good, I am happy," he said. "The woman is a miracle."

Meanwhile Kovacevic's whereabouts are a mystery. It is possible she is regretting deeply that she turned down a rumoured offer made earlier this month to work permanently at Manchester City.