The fixed Champions League game was Liverpool 1 – Debrecen 0 (Sept. 2009)
Monday, February 4th, 2013
Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet have come out with a stunning claim this evening, just hours after Europol said over 680 games have been fixed worldwide.
Much of the press speculation in the UK revolved around the fact a Champions League game based in England, over the last 3 to 4 years, was one of the fixed matches and Ekstra Bladet seem certain that it was Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Debrecen in 2009.
They suggest that Debrecen goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic was bribed to ensure that there were over 2.5 goals in the match.
However, Liverpool had a poor night in front of goal and Poleksic only conceded one, where he punched out a shot from Fernando Torres into the path of Dirk Kuyt to claim the winner – see video below.
In text messages recovered by police – the people behind the match fixing bemoaned the fact Steven Gerrard missed some presentable chances against Debrecen.
Later on in the Champions League group stage of 2009, Poleksic was once again allegedly bribed for the match against Fiorentina which the Italians won 4-3.
Poleksic has since subsequently been banned from all football activities for failing to report match fixing activities.
Ekstra Bladet add in their report this evening just how difficult it is to prove match fixing – after all in the case of Liverpool’s win over Debrecen can we really be sure the keeper was trying to let in three or more goals?
They also say that whilst big clubs such as Liverpool and Fiorentina stick out like sore thumbs in this report, there is no evidence to link them with any match fixing whatsoever.
The second video below is the statement earlier on Monday from Europol.