Match-fixing probe baffles Arsene Wenger

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger believes the Europol match-fixing investigation has swept through football like a “tsunami” – and claimed “sport is full of legends who are in fact cheats”.
The European enforcement agency’s report stated some 380 matches were under investigation, including one 2009 Champions League game in England between Liverpool and Hungarian club Debrecen.
While there has never been any suspicion of wrongdoing by anyone at Liverpool, who won the match in question 1-0, Wenger feels the whole situation must act as a wake-up call to the English game.
“It was absolutely a surprise (to hear) the number of games that have been fixed. For me, it is a real tsunami and a real shock,” the Arsenal manager said.

“I cannot accept it. I always was a believer that there is a lot of cheating going on in our game and that we are not strong enough with what happens, nor with the doping, nor with the corruption of the referees, nor with the match-fixing.
“It is time that we tackle this problem in a very serious way and that people who cheat are punished in a very severe way as well. Sport is full of legends who are in fact cheats. We had a recent example again (in Lance Armstrong) and we all have that responsibility to fight against that.”
Wenger feels the concept of fixing a result goes against the very essence of sport, adding: “You cannot accept when somebody who works the whole week and decides to spend his money to go to a game, that you then cheat him because everything is decided before he gets to the stadium. I cannot stand up for that. We cannot accept that.”