We're clean, says Shahril

TNP PICTURE: Gavin Foo

WE ARE astonished and aggrieved.

But most importantly, we are innocent.

Following revelations by a Fifa investigator in an exclusive interview with The New Paper on Tuesday that a Malaysian Super League match involving the LionsXII could have been fixed, skipper Shahril Ishak has stepped up to vouch for the team’s innocence.

While the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) reassured that the LionsXII are not one of the three teams currently being investigated, the 28-year-old is upset that his team are being dragged though the match-fixing mire.

Shahril, the team's top scorer with five goals, told The New Paper: "I am 100 per cent certain that we, the LionsXII, are clean and not involved in all these nonsense.

"It is sad for this news to come out at a time when we are hitting good form. I think it will be very unfair for people to say we won our matches because they were fixed, since we worked so hard for every game and victory.

"Before the season started, we were briefed by CPIB (Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau) about the problems and consequences of being involved in match-fixing, so I believe none of us is stupid enough to get involved."

Read the full story in The New Paper today (Feb 16).