UEFA: No irregular Champions League betting patterns

Olympique Lyon's 7-1 victory at Dinamo Zagreb for a place in the Champions League round of 16 was not surrounded by suspicious betting patterns and won't be probed for the time being, the ruling body UEFA said on Thursday.UEFA said that its Betting Fraud Detections System (BFDS) has "for the time being ... not shown any irregular betting patterns around yesterday's games or their outcome that would justify any inquiry on that front."Visiting Lyon scored six goals within half an hour in the second half against 10-man Zagreb to make the next round on goal difference over Dutch side Ajax, who lost 3-0 at home against Real Madrid. Ajax's goal difference over Lyon was seven goals better ahead of the games. The Lyon club said in a statement that French online betting regulator Arjel was looking into the betting on the game."Olympique Lyon became aware of the checks carried out this morning ... The club agrees totally that action taken when a sporting result is considered atypical, and regrets that the comments do not stay in the field of sport as an incredible feat for Olympique Lyon and French football," Lyon said. Media speculation about possible irregularities around the game in Zagreb came especially from the Netherlands and prompted Zagreb to protest their innocence in a strong statement, including possible legal action.agreb spoke of "outrageous and malicious claims" and named them "quite humiliating for the reputation of our club, football and sport in general." Coach Kruno Jurcicwas was sacked as the Croatian club finished with six defeats and a shocking goal difference of 3-22 after Wednesday's debacle which came on the heels of a 6-2 defeat in Madrid.Ajax had two seemingly correct goals disallowed for offside by the linesman but the Dutch were rather looking a the events in Zagreb than pointing their finger at the Portuguese match officials in Amsterdam."As a club you can not so much ... You should not do wrong things. So we are looking carefully at the steps which can be undertaken. We also contacted the KNVB for advice and to discuss the possibilities and then our position is determined," Ajax interim director Martin Sturkenboom told the club website."We will send a letter to UEFA and ask for clarification. By asking a few open questions, we expect at least a clear response on their part ... I think they themselves will do everything to ensure that nothing improper happened."UEFA did not rule out an investigation if its officials on site had something to report."We are currently waiting to receive the reports of the referee, referee observer and match delegate to see if, in their opinion, something suspicious might have happened," UEFA said."If there is anything in these reports that could raise a doubt, UEFA may then charge a disciplinary inspector to investigate the matter. But there is nothing at this stage that would justify doing so."