Celtic reinstated to Champions League

[ramexpat]

Celtic have been reinstated to the Champions League after Legia Warsaw were kicked out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player.

Legia won the third qualifying round tie 6-1 on aggregate but brought on Bartosz Bereszynski in the second leg, while he was supposed to be suspended.

As a result Celtic were handed a 3-0 'walkover' win for the second leg, taking them through on away goals.

Legia won the first leg 4-1 and the second 2-0.

 

i know rules are rules but the player came on for the last 3 minutes , talk about lucky for Celtic after they got thrashed

[Daaave]

I read yesterday about a similar incident in 2010. Debrecen fielded an ineligible player for the last 2 minutes of a tie when cruising 4-1 up on aggregate. The punishment? A

[duncanjwitham]

I read yesterday about a similar incident in 2010. Debrecen fielded an ineligible player for the last 2 minutes of a tie when cruising 4-1 up on aggregate. The punishment? A

[nomad]

It does seem a tad harsh when the player in question had zero impact on the score line over the 2 legs. 

If I were a Celtic fan i'd breathe a Bananas of relief and take this though.

[AndyinLiverpool]

For 2 minutes of game time.

Brilliant.

I sniff an appeal.

[RamFan13]

Pathetic. 

[Mafiabob]

Wonder if the team was called Rosenberg or some other unfashionable team they would have got put through....

[StaffsRam]

At worst it should be a replay of the game in question. Over the two legs of the tie Celtic were completely outclassed.

Fooking ridiculous decision which probably we should all seen coming from an organisation run by Platini. Bunch of fcukwits run by the head fcukwit.

[RLACML]

It's a joke, an absolute joke. Some common sense has to be used when applying the rules. They give teams minor fines for racism and then chuck them out for this

[Pearl Ram]

Would a one off game be beyond the realms of possibility ? 

 

If the offending player had a major impact on the result I may have understood the decision better but Celtic were battered over the two legs and I think this is a harsh punishment for Warsaw.

 

I'm going to be outraged til half twelve in sympathy with Warsaw then I'm going to get into match mode for tomorrow. 

[RLACML]

Also, what on earth were Legia thinking by bringing the guy on? Madness

[Dimmu]

Also, what on earth were Legia thinking by bringing the guy on? Madness

Maybe they someone got paid for it... Aggregate 6-1 FFS.

 

It just doesn't make sense or justice.

[David]

Rules are rules, good to see Celtic in the CL

[Albert]

Also, what on earth were Legia thinking by bringing the guy on? Madness

At the end of the last campaign he received a 3 match ban, this was to be served during this campaign.

This was the 4th match of the campaign and the club believed that he had already served his ban. However... this is where the fun starts. Under UEFA's rules you must be registered in order to serve a ban, and it appears that he wasn't registered for the first match of the ban. The more interesting point here though is that this season was the first that he needed to be registered as a List A player (in the proper 25 man squad) as in the previous season he could have been a List B player (as he was born after 1-1-92). From what I can tell this was the source of the misunderstanding, and it may be the case that he was listed as a List B player for the first tie this season, though I can't find any English sources to confirm or deny exactly what happened.

In any case it seems reasonable that any mistake was made in good faith and to give such a harsh sanction is bizarre to say the least, though it may simply be a case of the wording of the rule book running common sense down in cold blood.

If Legia aren't reinstated on appeal then, to me at least, this is an absolute travesty and a crime against the sport, and something that will tarnish UEFA image for years to come. If the rulebook tells them this is what is meant to be done, their rule book needs work because it's clearly got issues.

To be completely honest Celtic should do the honorable thing and side with Legia on the issue. Seeing them in the Champions League again this season would be embarrassing anyhow, they might as well save themselves the blushes and look like heros in the process.

[neil62uk]

Rules are Rules ....   yes the fact they where already 6 - 1 down over the two legs  with 3 mins to play  when Bartosz Bereszynski  entered the field of play ...does appear rather harsh ....  but rules are rules

[duncanjwitham]

If Legia aren't reinstated on appeal then, to me at least, this is an absolute travesty and a crime against the sport, and something that will tarnish UEFA image for years to come. If the rulebook tells them this is what is meant to be done, their rule book needs work because it's clearly got issues.

 

The problem is, under the current rules, Legia have played a player who was suspended.  In normal circumstances, you can't have clubs getting away with fines for something like that, the only remotely sensible punishment is awarding the game to the other team.

 

The only 2 ways UEFA could get around giving the 'correct' punishment in this case are to either accept that Legia believed they were acting in good faith (in that the player had already served his 3 match ban), or to decide that the player had so little effect on the game that the law-breaking was irrelevant.  If you go for the first option, you are basically giving clubs carte blanche to 'forget' to file paperwork and get away with bigger circumventions of the rules.  

 

The second case would open up a massive case of worms, as you have to draw a line somewhere to determine whether a player has affected the outcome of the game.  If a player plays 30 minutes and only touches the ball once, has he affected the game? If he plays 90 minutes but doesn't score or assist, has he had an effect? and so on...

[Albert]

The problem is, under the current rules, Legia have played a player who was suspended.  In normal circumstances, you can't have clubs getting away with fines for something like that, the only remotely sensible punishment is awarding the game to the other team.

 

The only 2 ways UEFA could get around giving the 'correct' punishment in this case are to either accept that Legia believed they were acting in good faith (in that the player had already served his 3 match ban), or to decide that the player had so little effect on the game that the law-breaking was irrelevant.  If you go for the first option, you are basically giving clubs carte blanche to 'forget' to file paperwork and get away with bigger circumventions of the rules.  

 

The second case would open up a massive case of worms, as you have to draw a line somewhere to determine whether a player has affected the outcome of the game.  If a player plays 30 minutes and only touches the ball once, has he affected the game? If he plays 90 minutes but doesn't score or assist, has he had an effect? and so on...

The situation is far more complex than that though. The confusion seems to have arisen out of the List A and List B players, not out of anything that happened that day. To be completely honest this should be dealt with under the rules for failing to register a player who played, not playing a suspended player, as that is where the error occurred.

Sadly though, they're doing exactly what the tin told them too, which ultimately just shows that there needs to be some serious thought put into the rulebook again (from what I can tell this is using the competition rules for the period of 12-15, so it'll get reviewed for next season anyhow), because the rules clearly aren't sufficient for appropriate punishment in all circumstances. Legia have been knocked out of the Champions League on a paperwork error, and a team that was demolished 6-1 walks through.

Again though, they could sort it by stating that it was clearly an error in good faith and that they would receive the punishment for the error that caused the problem, but that has it's own problems.

[ramexpat]

do UEFA not have to check the team sheets before the games ?? 

[RLACML]

do UEFA not have to check the team sheets before the games ?? 

Exactly. While Legia clearly have a responsibility to check, this could have all have been avoided if Uefa just gave them a heads up, especially with the rule change. 

[Dimmu]

I feel for Legia's players. They have good team with some very potential players. And they almost had a chance to show it in CL, get move to bigger clubs etc.. Shame  really.