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Soccer-Moenchengladbach defend club doctors after Dominguez retirement

By Richard Martin BARCELONA, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Borussia Moenchengladbach's medical staff did everything "humanly possible" to help Alvaro Dominguez, the club's sporting director said on Thursday, following the defender's retirement due to injury. Dominguez, 27, hung up his boots this week due to back problems and criticised the club in Spanish daily Marca for failing to recognise the severity of his injury. "We are there for Alvaro," Max Eberl told reporters. "Unfortunately Alvaro is making serious allegations which we can neither understand nor comprehend. We of course have full understanding for his emotions after such a grave decision. But I can say this, that our doctors did everything medically and humanly possible to help him." Former Atletico Madrid defender Dominguez, who joined Moenchengladbach in 2012, said he was considering taking legal action against the German club for failing to spot the severity of his back troubles. "In May I stopped playing because of my back, but since February I had strong pains that got worse every day. I had tests and they (Moenchengladbach) told me not to worry, to take an injection and the pain would pass," Dominguez told Marca. "I'm considering all my options and I'm in the hands of good lawyers in Germany. I don't feel I need to win a court case, I just want people to recognise no-one should be treated like I was." The Spaniard said he sought medical advice in Madrid in the close season and saw an independent specialist in Germany who advised him to undergo surgery. He said the club pleaded with him to avoid having the operation. Dominguez also said Moenchengladbach did not pay him his full salary for six weeks while he was injured and only agreed to pay for 30 percent of his treatment. "They were within their rights so there was nothing I could do. I felt like I had been there when the club needed me and they had left me hanging after I'd sacrificed myself for the team and then felt like I was dying of pain at home," he added. "I sacrificed my health for the team and they only thought about saving six weeks of my salary. It was all surreal to me." (Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Toby Davis)