Wydad Casablanca president Said Naciri has responded to a report of match-fixing by his club in their most recent Caf Champions League game with Lobi Stars.
Lobi hosted Wydad on February 3 for the clubs’ third Caf Champions League match in Group A, with the Pride of Benue losing 1-0 in Enugu.
Fueled by a solid display, the Nigerians put up a commanding display in the second leg they played a 0-0 draw at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.
However, coach Solomon Ogbeide alleged that his players were approached to fix Tuesday’s clash to aid Faouzi Benzarti side’s smooth passage to the quarter-final.
In a chat with Goal, president Naciri vehemently denied the accusation, while demanding that the ‘person’ in question be exposed.
“These drips have no basis and Wydad are even bigger than that. We do not need to bribe anyone to win games because we are not a small team,” Naciri told Goal.
“Lobi Stars must talk about the identity of the person who gave them funds if they are correct. The word ‘person’ in Morocco has many meanings.
“We will not care about such things in this important period of the club and if we receive an official letter from Caf, we will respond.
“I think these things [match-fixing] started to disappear from the continent in recent years and I do not know what brought about this talk from the coach of the Nigerian team.
“They [Lobi Stars] played a good game and have hopes to move to the next round.”
Goal gathered that the Confederation of African Football has been notified about this development, but are yet to open an investigation into the matter.
Despite the draw in Rabat, Lobi sit at the base of Group A with four points after four matches, and they face Mamelodi Sundowns in their next clash.
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