Michel Platini has confirmed that Liverpool's 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas in the Champions League is not part of Uefa's investigation into match fixing allegations.

The Uefa president admitted that online betting is becoming a major threat to the game and revealed he personally met with European police and politicians to assist with 'protecting the game'.

Speaking in Dublin today at the official launch of FAI's new headquarters at the National Sports Campus, Platini expressed his concern at the vast sums of money bet on European games.

He insisted: "There is nothing in that (Liverpool v Besiktas) no, nothing.  We have some games under investigation, and one is more important than the other.

"We have some teams but not a huge amount of games. But there is no national association and there are some clubs which come from the Intertoto Cup."

Platini added: "This is a big danger for football, but we have an early warning system, to protect the game against the amount of money coming from Asia, from betting.

"We are here to protect the game. I went to Brussels six months ago and came back one week ago to ask the European police to take care of the sport because there are so many things we cannot do anything about.

"The violence, the racism, the betting - there are many dangers for our sport so we asked to help. I asked the politicians in Europe to help us to protect our game too. But it is very complicated with illegal betting, very complicated to investigate.

"Who is responsible? The president? the club, the referee, the defender, the goalkeeper, the forward? Who can you go to see who is responsible?  It is very complicated but we need to get a solution with the politicians or police. It is a huge problem with the sport."

Platini also revealed he has not been approached by the FA in relation to the selection of Steve McClaren's successor as England boss.

When asked about reported contact with FA chief executive Brian Barwick the former French international added: "No. It didn't happen?"

The task to appoint a national manager for both the FA and FAI appears to have become more difficult as the temptations and rewards at club level increase.

But Platini, as a former manager of the French national team, believes international management is not a distant second to club management.

He joked: "Who said this, Arsene Wenger?  If he was the coach of a national team he'd say the opposite.

"National teams are more popular. If you look at the audience of the World Cup or the European Championships - the national teams have bigger audiences than the clubs. Remember, I was coach of the national team, not of a club."  PA