Liverpool Could Score Only Once Against A Goalkeeper Trying To Give Up Goals

When Europol announced it had found evidence of 680 matches that might have been fixed by gamblers, investigators teased us with the good stuff. Champions League ties were among the questionable matches, including at least one in England. It took about a day for it to come out, and while the English team is wholly innocent of suspicion, it still doesn't make them look good.

In September 2009, Hungarian club Debrecen traveled to Anfield for a Champions League group stage match against Liverpool, won by the home side 1-0. Debrecen confirmed today that goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic was approached by match-fixers, for which he was later suspended for two years by UEFA. A Danish newspaper adds that the over/under was 2.5 goals, and Poleksic was instructed to make sure it hit the over.

Against a goalie presumably being paid good money to let the Reds score, Liverpool only managed a single goal, a putback from Dirk Kuyt. (That's Poleksic in the above photo, not looking particularly unhappy over Kuyt's goal.) The highlights show Liverpool missing the net on a couple of good chances, so bad luck for Poleksic, I guess. He would allow 13 goals in his next three group stage matches, so he was allowed to keep his thumbs.