Goodness gracious, is this a meaty storyline or what? Seriously, this whole Celtic Vs Legia Warsaw debacle is becoming more convoluted and silly each day that it develops. You couldn’t write it, because if you did people would tell you it was too farfetched.
For those not au fair with the situation thus far, I shall do my best to explain. Legia Warsaw, the Polish Champions, decimated Celtic, the Scottish Champions, in a UEFA Champions League Qualifier. Over the course of two legs, Legia defeated Celtic firstly 4-1 at home and then beat them by a further two goals in the away leg, giving them a commanding 6-1 aggregate victory. The narrative seemed a simple one. Celtic had failed to invest in a strong enough playing squad and had completely capitulated in Poland after going down to ten men. Simples. However, the narrative was soon to drastically change.
For you see, Legia had in fact brought on an ineligible player onto the field during the dying minutes of the second leg. As a result of this, UEFA declared that Celtic were in fact 3-0 winners via forfeit and that they would advance to the next round! The fact that the player in question had only played a grand total of roughly 4 minutes served to only make the matter sting that little more decidedly for the hapless Polish.
So that should have been that. Celtic advance and Legia are, perhaps somewhat harshly, denied. However, Legia decided that they weren’t going to go quietly into the night and yesterday enacted the “Jarrett/Ramon 1995 Finish”. For those not sure what I mean there, have a quick read of what happened at the end of the Jeff Jarrett Vs Razor Ramon match at the 1995 Royal Rumble. Assume that Legia are Jarrett and Ramon is Celtic. I won’t explain anymore, I’ll leave that to yourself to research. Yes, I know it’s super lame that I’m giving you homework, but hey, learning is fun right?
Legia Warsaw posted a half grovelling and half taunting message on their website, challenging Celtic to a one off game to settle the matter in an “honourable fashion”. One might argue that the honourable thing for Legia to do would have been to follow the clearly laid out rules and then take it on the chin when they broke one of them, but I digress.
I must admit that I found it especially galling that they used the example that Jock Stein would have not been able to look into the eyes of his humiliated fans if his Celtic side were to advance in such a manner. I’m pretty sure Jock Stein would be just fine with advancing to the next stage of a competition if the opposing side had broken the rules and then whined about it like a bunch of spoilt children.
Regardless of whether people think the actions taken on Legia were harsh or not, what UEFA has done is fully within the rules and is something upon which a precedent has already been set. Were they supposed to ignore that precedent just because the player only played briefly long after the game was already decided? The fact is that a rule has been broken and the punishment for breaking that rule is to forfeit the match. Legia even had two penalties in the first leg, which they subsequently missed. It just so happens that a team that forfeits automatically loses 3-0, which consequently was enough for Celtic to advance on the away goal rule. If Legia had scored just one of their penalties in the first leg, they’d be through to the next round. For them to cry foul over a mistake that THEY made, and then try and take the moral high ground over Celtic is ridiculous.
Yes, Celtic were battered, but they were battered honestly. Yes, they’re getting a second bite of the cherry despite playing awfully in the previous two games, but the fact remains that they followed the rules and the other side didn’t.
Rules are part of the game. If you want to win at football, you have to follow the established footballing rules. If you don’t like the rules then you should play another game. I’m not saying that UEFA and FIFA are perfectly clean of any rule bending, or indeed outright rule breaking, but they’ve got Legia bang to rights here.
This isn't a swerve or something concocted out of thin air to ensure the more marketable club progresses. It just so happens than the more marketable club has followed the rules while the less marketable one hasn’t.
I look forward to Celtic’s response. Hopefully they politely, yet firmly, tell Legia where to stick their rematch and we can all get on with our lives.
Peace Out
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