Story highlights
French betting watchdog probes Lyon's 7-1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb
Lyon scored six second half goals to reach last 16 of Champions League
Online regulator ARJEL reported 'no particular anomaly' in betting patterns
Dinamo sacked manager Krunoslav Jurcic after the defeat
Lyon’s remarkable 7-1 Champions League victory over Dinamo Zagreb was the subject of a probe by France’s online gambling regulator.
The investigation by ARJEL opened after Lyon went through to the last 16 knockout stage at the expense of Ajax Amsterdam Wednesday night.
They had trailed the Dutch side by three points and needing to make up a goal difference of seven to progress in second place in Group D behind Real Madrid.
Tied one-all at halftime, admittedly against a Dinamo team reduced to 10 men, Lyon scored six goals without reply after the break, benefiting from poor defending.
French international striker Bafetimbi Gomis scored four, including the fastest hat-trick, just seven minutes, in the history of the competition.
Ajax were losing 3-0 to Real Madrid in their final game to make an unlikely exit.
“This is a huge blow”, coach Frank De Boer told their official website.
“You couldn’t have imagined this scenario in your worst nightmare.”
Later Thursday, ARJEL said in a statement on its website that “no particular anomaly has been recorded.”
It went on to highlight that the highest payout for an online bet on the match in the French market was 1500 euros ($2,000).
They will pass their findings to European governing body UEFA, who also issued a statement on the affair.
“UEFA is aware and has taken note of the media coverage of the matches played yesterday and the different allegations which have appeared in the press,” it read.
“We have established a system for fraud detection … which examines 29,000 matches per season and uses the data of more that 400 betting organizations.
“For the moment this system has shown no illegal betting movement to justify an investigation.”
Dinamo sacked manager Krunoslav Jurcic after the defeat, which left them without a point having conceded 22 goals in their six matches – an unwanted record in the Champions League group stages.
