Good news Celtic fans, the Hoops are back in the Champions League by default.
Just like Homer Simpson, fans of the Scottish giants are celebrating default as the two greatest words in the English language right now after being re-instated to the Champions League.
Despite losing 6-1 on aggregate to conquerors of St. Pat’s, Legia Warsaw, Celtic are back in the competition because Henning Berg’s side fielded an ineligible player in Wednesday night’s victory over the Hoops in Edinburgh.
The player in question, Bartosz Bereszynski, was only on the pitch for three minutes at the end of the game, but he was supposed to have been serving a suspension having been sent off against Appollon Limassol in a Europa League game last season.
Bereszynski wasn’t registered for Legia’s victory over St. Pat’s in the second qualifying round, meaning that the first game to which his suspension applied was the clash with Celtic. His late substitute appearance was reported to the governing body by the Uefa match delegate on Thursday afternoon, which led to this morning’s investigation.
A Uefa disciplinary committee meeting in Nyon this morning decided that Celtic should be awarded a 3-0 victory, meaning that the aggregate result of the game was 4-4, with Celtic scraping through on away goals.
Legia described Bereszynski’s appearance as a misunderstanding and they have a right to appeal, but it is Celtic and not the Polish side who will be entered in this morning’s Champions League draw after a costly mix-up, which, incidentally, is the second time in three years that Celtic have benefitted from the opposition playing an ineligible player after FC Sion were ejected from the Europa League in 2011 for a similar issue.
