MIDDLESBROUGH were last night doing their best to remain focused on the latest UEFA Cup fixture after defender Abel Xavier was left facing the sack when he was handed an 18-month suspension for drug taking.

Xavier became the first Premiership footballer to have been found guilty of testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug after the UEFA control and disciplinary body dished out the worldwide ban at a hearing in Nyon, Switzerland, yesterday.

The former Portugual international's representatives have indicated to UEFA that he intends to appeal against the decision but if the verdict is upheld Boro will wash their hands of the disgraced star.

Manager Steve McClaren, speaking at the Alkmaar dr Hout in Holland ahead of tonight's crucial Group D encounter with AZ, was keen to stress that he does not want to harden up his statement until he has held a discussion with chairman Steve Gibson and chief executive Keith Lamb.

But McClaren did admit that Boro feel ashamed that their reputation has been brought under the spotlight because of the whole saga.

"I have to discuss Abel's future with the chairman and Keith," said McClaren, who signed Xavier on a one-year contract in the summer on a free transfer.

"There isn't a place in football, for whatever reason, for this kind of thing and I will always condemn that. In this situation it's just unfortunate that our club is involved.

"I have just heard the news myself. We will take a couple of days to digest it and decide what to do. It's disappointing but my full reaction will come in the next couple of days.

"We are a very good football club and the players are experienced enough not to let things affect them.

"Forget the side-show, the Alkmaar match is a big game for us and we are going out to get the point we need."

Boro were told on October 14 that Xavier had tested positive after being randomly selected to give urine samples following his appearance in the UEFA Cup second leg tie with Greek side Xanthi on September 29.

Both samples he gave to the UEFA testers after that first-round tie contained traces of Methandienone, otherwise known as the anabolic steroid Dianabol.

Ever since the charge came to light, Xavier has tried to compile a dossier in a bid to prove his innocence and it is expected he will lodge an appeal against the one-and-a-half-year suspension within the next few days.

The flamboyant 32-year-old, who turns 33 next week, has made six starts since making the move to Boro and insisted in his own statement when he was charged that there was a 'reasonable and entirely harmless explanation'.

But UEFA, in a statement, announced yesterday that his claims had fallen on deaf ears.

It read: "At the meeting held at UEFA headquarters, the UEFA control and disciplinary body have suspended the Middlesbrough player, Abel Xavier, for 18 months from all competitions following the positive result of a doping control test undergone by the player.

"The analysis of both the A and B samples revealed the presence of Methandienone, a substance that is classified under the category of anabolic steroids in the World Anti-Doping Agency 2005 prohibited list.

"The player was found guilty of being in breach of the UEFA anti-doping regulations. As a result the UEFA control and disciplinary body decided to impose an 18-month ban.

"The decision may be appealed against within three days of receipt of the written reasoning."

UEFA are keen to show a hardened reaction towards drugs in football and they will undertake 960 out-of-competition tests on players around the continent this season.

In England alone there were 1,600 tests in the professional game last year but there has never previously been a case of a player taking Dianabol. However, there was one disputed case of someone taking Nandrolone in the lower leagues.

McClaren, meanwhile, knows that he has to try to make sure the Xavier scandal does not affect his side's performance in Holland tonight.

Alkmaar are one of the most fancied teams in the competition and both sides know topping the group is essential if they are to stand the best chance of making it beyond the last 32, even though a point will ensure a place in the next stage for both.

McClaren has reassured the 400 official Boro supporters that have made the trip his side will be going out for victory at striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's second club, the one which deemed him not good enough.

"Our approach to the last five games has seen us score 11 and concede four; why would we change that?" said McClaren.

"It would be a mistake to change things and I know Alkmaar are very attacking so it could be quite a high-scoring game.

"Jimmy is desperate to play. He has a very big incentive to win here. But he has nothing to prove."

Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has not travelled due to the shoulder injury which kept him out of Sunday's win over Fulham, but striker Mark Viduka has proved his fitness and is in the squad.

AZ (4-3-3): Timmer; Steinsson, Jaliens, Mathijsen, De Cler; Sehaars, Landzaat, van Galen; Sektioui, Arveladze, Perez.

Boro (3-5-2): Jones; Riggott, Southgate, Ehiogu; Parnaby, Morrison, Doriva, Boateng, Queudrue; Viduka, Hasselbaink.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.