THE Russian Premier Liga has offered their support to Zenit St Petersburg following match-fixing allegations made in the Spanish media about their Uefa Cup semi-final win over Bayern Munich earlier this year.
Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Wednesday that a judge had forwarded information to German prosecutors which claimed a gang with links to the Russian mafia had given money to Bayern ahead of the match.
Zenit beat the Bundesliga outfit 4-0 in
the second leg of their semi-final to win 5-1 on aggregate before getting past Rangers in the final to lift the Uefa Cup.
The Russian club have already strongly denied the allegations, and the RFPL have also come out in support of Zenit.
A statement on its website said: "In light of press reports of a possible investigation into the circumstances surrounding Zenit St Petersburg winning the Uefa Cup, on behalf of its members (the clubs] the RFPL declares its full sport to Zenit.
"The RFPL fully recognises Zenit's achievements and is certain that victory in the prestigious European tournament was obtained in an honest and fair contest.
"The RFPL calls on the Russian media to display maximum correctness in covering the current situation, refrain from stirring up passions and not use reports from foreign journalists to undermine the authority of Russian football."
Bayern have also denied all knowledge of the allegations.
Meanwhile, Zenit have distanced themselves from the reports.
"There is nothing to comment on because, even if there is some investigation, Zenit have nothing to do with this," said a club spokesman. "We have nothing to do with whoever it is that is alleged to be behind this, whether it is the so-called Russian mafia or whoever," Petrov added.
In an official statement, Zenit said the team's performance in the matches against Bayern and Rangers was "the best proof the victories were achieved in an honest, uncompromising contest."
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko, who also serves as president of Russia's Football Union, said the allegations of match-fixing were another attempt to discredit the country's soccer.
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko, who was Zenit president from 1999 to 2003 and is now president of Russia's Football Union, said: "This is not just an attempt to discredit Zenit, but Bayern as well. Bayern have many great players, Kahn, Klose, Toni, Ze Roberto, Lucio ... how can you bribe them?
"I don't think you can buy a victory over Bayern."
Uefa said on Wednesday it was aware of the reports about a match-fixing investigation, while Bayern said they had no information about the alleged reports.
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