Debrecen goalkeeper denies match-fixing

Vukasin Poleksic has denied allegations of match fixing
7 February 2013

Debrecen goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic has strongly denied trying to influence a Champions League match against Liverpool in 2009 - just hours after his club confirmed the clash was part of a match-fixing investigation.

The Hungarian side said UEFA had taken action against Poleksic in 2010 for not reporting approaches from fixers before two European matches against Liverpool and Fiorentina. Poleksic was banned for two years but the UEFA charge only specified Fiorentina - and Liverpool say they have never been notified by any organisation that the match was under investigation.

"Anyone who watched the match would know that what people are saying is bull," Poleksic told the Daily Mail. "We lost 1-0 at Liverpool and I played a good game. I made lots of saves: a one-on-one against Albert Riera, one from Fernando Torres, one from Steven Gerrard. I remember it all. How can anyone say I threw the game?"

He went on: "The match did not seem at all odd that night. There was nothing. I was just delighted to be playing at Anfield. It was a great night for me and my club and we played well."

European enforcement agency Europol said on Tuesday that a Champions League game in England was one of 380 games under investigation and Debrecen confirmed a report in Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet that their games were involved.

A statement on Debrecen's website said: "The [UEFA] disciplinary committee's position was that Vukasin Poleksic neglected his obligations when he didn't report in time that, before two international matches of DVSC, unknown persons attempted to persuade him to influence the outcome of the matches.

"The two matches were the away game against Liverpool and the home encounter with Fiorentina."

A Liverpool spokesman told Press Association Sport: "We have had no contact from Europol or any other organisation over this."

Poleksic bemoaned his failure to report approaches from fixers, saying: "Every goalkeeper in the world makes mistakes but my big one was that I didn't call the police. I didn't play for two years because of this but it's my fault because I didn't report it. But I didn't fix anything. I came back in June and the club have been behind me the whole time."

There has never been any suspicion of wrongdoing by anyone at Liverpool.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in