Legia urges Uefa to put ‘football first’ in appeal

Legia substitute Bartosz Bereszynski. Picture: Robert Perry

Uefa’s control and disciplinary body will today hear Legia’s appeal against the decision to award Celtic a 3-0 second-leg victory after the Polish champions’ registration error for bringing on Bartosz Bereszynski, who had not been registered for the previous round.

A statement from Legia said: “We are deeply convinced this beautiful game should be based on universal values... Those values, widely accepted by the entire European football family, are: football first, fair play and respect.”

Legia have vowed to take their case to the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Switzerland should today’s appeal to Uefa fail.

It has also emerged on Monday that the Legia administrator who made the mistake, Marta Ostrowska, had received death threats following the error.

In a statement the Polish club said Uefa could have reduced the sanction against them or even “nullify it altogether” if it looked at both the objective and subjectives aspects of their case.

“We wish to inform that the above mentioned argumentation will be used by the club at every stage of the appeal process,” Legia said.

Celtic have been drawn against NK Maribor of Slovenia in the Champions League playoff round on Aug. 19 or 20, while Legia are due to play in the Europa League against Aktobe of Kazakhstan.