Malta midfielder Rowen Muscat insisted that the betting warning given by the FIFA match commissioner before last month’s 2018 World Cup Group F qualifier against Lithuania didn’t undermine his concentration.

Suspicious betting on the Lithuania-Malta game, won 2-0 by the hosts, had led FIFA commissioner Paolo Rondelli to take the unusual step of walking into the teams’ dressing rooms just before kick-off to alert them about the situation, a move that drew criticism from Malta FA president Norman Darmanin Demajo. FIFA have since launched an investigation.

“As a player, I was just concentrating on the game,” Muscat, who replaced Andrè Schembri seven minutes before the end of the Lithuania qualifier, replied when asked if the FIFA match commissioner’s warning had disrupted his focus.

“When I hear certain things, people are always going to talk and there will always be investigations.

“As I said, I was only focusing on the game and, to be honest, I didn’t pay much notice to what the FIFA commissioner said because it didn’t concern me.

“The matter is now in the hands of those who have a duty to look into it.”

Muscat is bracing himself for a difficult test against Slovenia after playing twice against their U-21 team.

“We played against Slovenia when I was with the U-21s,” the Birkirkara midfielder said.

“They have a strong team. We have faced some of the current Slovenia players when we met at U-21 level, so we know their potential.

“Physically, we are in good shape. I personally feel a lot better now.

“We tried to gain something from our last two away games, against Lithuania especially, but that’s in the past and we now need to think only about the next game.

“If we work hard and play collectively, I believe that we can obtain a positive result against Slovenia.”