It was all smiles in the Kremlin.

The tears, and Mourinho's account 15 years later, tell a different, more sentimental tale."I ran away - I went to the bus to say goodbye, and I didn't even shake one hand," Mourinho says.

"I wanted to escape. I think if I get on to the bus, if I go back with them to Milan, if I walk into a full San Siro, if I walk into the Duomo [Milan Cathedral] full of people, I think I wouldn't go to Real Madrid."I think the emotion would stop me to go."But I wanted to go. I thought it was the right moment. I had to escape.

"Marco was there. If instead of Marco it was Dejan Stankovic, or Diego Milito or Julio Cesar, it would have been the same story."In many ways the duality of that moment defines Mourinho, and the question of how he won his two Champions League titles.

Creating a fiercely loyal relationship with his players off the pitch which ensured the side that stepped on the field would be comfortable both running through walls, and with their backs to the wall.

Fifteen years later Mourinho may have mellowed slightly. His man-management skills and star quality may have waned too.It accepted Sinner's explanation that traces of clostebol - a banned anabolic steroid - had entered his system through inadvertent contamination from his physio during a massage.

Wada, while not challenging the tribunal's overall decision, appealed against the panel's ruling that Sinner "bore no fault or negligence".However, this would have carried a ban of "one to two years" at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

Although Wada initially called for this punishment publicly, eventually its officials came to feel this would not be the right outcome.With time ticking before the Cas hearing in April, Wada made two approaches to Sinner's team for the case resolution agreement.