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Levante face match-fixing investigation

SoccerNews in La Liga 2 May 2013

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Spanish side Levante are set to be investigated over allegations that their 4-0 defeat to Deportivo La Coruna was fixed.

Mid-table Levante were hammered by relegation-threatened Deportivo at Ciutat de Valencia back last month, a result which raised controversy after midfielder Javi Barkero accused his team-mates of not trying during the half-time interval following a first-half display which saw them ship three goals.

However, Barkero has since apologised and stressed that the accusations he made were incorrect.
“I have asked for forgiveness from everyone and especially my four colleagues whom I have wrongly accused,” Barkero said on Wednesday.
“I was wrong. I accused them of something that hadn’t happened and I want to make that point.”
Still despite Barkero’s retraction, the Spanish football governing body LFP has opted to look into the allegations, but refused to make any comment on the ongoing proceedings.
An LFP spokesperson said: “Any game where there is suspicion will be investigated with all the tools available to the LFP.”
The issue of match-fixing has become more prominent in recent times after investigators revealed they had discovered evidence suggesting domestic and international matches had been fixed worldwide as part of a betting scam in Singapore.
New LFP president Javier Tebbas promised to clamp down on match-fixing in the Spanish game, although there is no indication he was referring to games being fixed by betting syndicates, rather that clubs were accepting payments to lose games from teams threatened with relegation.
In a recent interview he said: “We have to take a step further in denouncing something that is happening, in isolation, but it is taking place. This must be ended and the clubs are in agreement with me.”

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