In a huge turn of events for Celtic (and a massive blow for Legia Warsaw), the Scottish club has been reinstated to the Champions League after Uefa deemed that one of Legia’s players was ineligible.
Legia Warsaw brought on Bartosz Bereszynski in the second leg of the two teams’ qualifying round match-up, despite Bereszynski having been suspended. Uefa has therefore decided to award Celtic an automatic 3-0 win, which raises their aggregate score to 4-4 and ensures that Celtic will make their way through to the play-offs by virtue of away goals.
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Legia Warsaw defeated Celtic in both of their matches, winning 4-1 in their first meeting and 2-0 in their second. This decision has inevitably made the club furious with Uefa, as they believe it is an unjustly massive punishment for what they consider to be a case of “human error”.
Legia official Dominik Ebebenge said: “This is unjust and completely disproportionate. There have been similar cases in the past which have not punished in this way. This was just a basic human error.
“We have spent eight years working towards this and now it has been taken away from us. Financially, it’s unimaginable and the players are shattered.”
Yesterday we reported that Celtic crashing out of the Champions League before reaching the group stages would be a huge financial blow to the club, and would likely lead to a huge drop in ticket sales for them. However, despite this not being the most gracious way to be granted entry into the Champions League, it has certainly given the Scottish outfit another lifeline.
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