Hat-trick: BenayounLiverpool's 8-0 hammering of Besiktas investigated by UEFA as part of match-fixing scandal
Liverpool have been dragged into the match-fixing scandal that has rocked European football. There are reports that the 8-0 Champions League win over Besiktas last month is considered suspicious because of irregular betting patterns. UEFA officials refused to confirm or deny the allegations. Only last weekend UEFA president Michel Platini said the 'criminal phenomena' in sport had become a 'big problem' after confirming that the European governing body were looking into matches in Eastern Europe that may have been fixed by gangster-run betting syndicates.
UEFA are working with Europol, the pan-European police force. Platini plans to hold a conference with From Back Page European Commission vice-president Franco Frattini to look at moneylaundering, match-fixing and illegal betting in football.
William Gaillard, UEFA's director of communications, said last night that an InterToto Cup game between Makedonija and Cherno More in July was the only game being officially investigated. Others were simply considered suspicious because of irregular betting patterns.
One look at Liverpool's group is enough to raise concern. Besiktas have a goal difference of minus nine — compared to Liverpool's of plus nine — but go into next week's final game against Porto still able to qualify ahead of the 2005 champions.
After losing 8-0 at Anfield on November 6, with Yossi Benayoun scoring a hattrick, players and staff from the Turkish club said how 'ashamed' they were. Investigators for Sueddeutsche Zeitung, a Munich daily, claim that there was 'frenzied betting on a high-score victory' prior to the game. UEFA have made no contact with Liverpool and last night officials at Anfield said they could not comment because they had no knowledge of any controversy.
But reports in Germany suggest that Besiktas players, on a fraction of the salaries earned by Liverpool stars, could have been targeted by Asian betting syndicates. "At this stage I can neither confirm nor deny the reports," Gaillard told Sportsmail. "There has to be a certain amount of confidentiality with these things because we could risk a source of information drying up."
Meanwhile, Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez may rest defender Jamie Carragher against Reading on Saturday ahead of crucial meetings with Marseille and Manchester United. Carragher is still feeling the effects of a rib injury, and is also a booking away from missing the date with United on Sunday week. He seems certain to be held in reserve for Tuesday's Champions League group decider in Marseille.