NYON: Celtic have been reinstated into the Champions League after Legia Warsaw were expelled from 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.

They are expected to appeal.

Bereszynski was sent off for violent conduct against Apollon in the final match of Legia’s Europa League campaign last season. He missed both Legia’s matches in the second qualifying round, against St Patrick’s, and sat out the first leg against Celtic.

However he was not registered with UEFA for the tie against St Patrick’s and competition rules state that a player can serve a suspension only to matches for which he is registered. Hence Bereszynski was breaching his ban by playing against Celtic – even though he played only the last four minutes.

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