At the start of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round second leg match, Warsaw's "Legia" had a three-goal advantage over Glasgow's "Celtic" because they had won the first match 4-1. The Poles once again defeated the Scots 2-0 away, but will be forced to leave the tournament due to a violation of the fair play rule - with 4 minutes left to play, a player stepped onto the field who was not allowed to play due to disqualification.
Bartosz Bereszyński earned a red card and a three-match suspension for last season's UEFA Europa League team matches, which carried over to this season.
The 22-year-old defender did not play in either of the second leg matches against "St Patrick's Athletic" and the first match against "Celtic". The Warsaw team's management thought that the disqualification was already over, but B.Bereszyński was not included in the team roster for both matches against "St Patrick's Athletic". This means that theoretically the player did not serve his suspension, so he could not play.
The defender was sent off the field just four minutes before the end of the second leg match, with the overall result already at 6-1 in favor of "Legia".
However, after the match, "Celtic" lodged a complaint against their opponents to the UEFA disciplinary committee. The latter decided that due to a violation of the rules, the result of the second leg match was annulled and "Legia" was awarded a technical 0-3 loss. This means that the overall series result became 4-4, but due to the away goal scored in Poland, "Celtic" advanced to the next stage.
After the decision of the UEFA disciplinary committee, "Legia" president Bogusław Leśnodorski tweeted: "I give in."
Due to their qualification for the main Champions League tournament, "Celtic" will now face the players from "Maribor", while "Legia" will continue to compete in the Europa League qualifiers, where they will face the "Aktobe" club from Kazakhstan.
The Scottish club had previously escaped a similar situation in the 2011-12 season, when despite losing in the qualifiers to the "Sion" team, "Celtic" was allowed to play in the Europa League group stage. The Swiss club relied on five players who were not eligible to play. The team was banned from registering new players, and their legal challenge was unsuccessful.
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