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Did Legia Warsaw deliberately set out to cheat UEFA?

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Henning Burg – Blackburn Rovers (57 days)As news slowly emerges about Legia Warsaw it seems more and more likely that the Polish club played Bartosz Bereszynski against Celtic knowing that there was a doubt over whether he was suspended or not.

The word from Poland is that Bereszynski asked about his suspension on the day of the Celtic match with no definite answer coming from within the club.

With a question mark over his status you have to ask why Henning Berg sent him on with just three minutes left and Legia coasting through on a 6-1 aggregate.

Could Berg have been attempting to ensure that the defender would be ‘clear’ to play in the play-off round hoping to point to his omission against St Pat’s as part of his three match suspension despite not being registered for those games?

As a former Manchester United and Rangers (IL) defender Berg would be familiar in working for an arrogant club that could throw it’s weight around to ensure that they get the benefit of the doubt.

Over the last week it seems that Legia have that very attitude- and more- and are used to getting things their own way.

By playing Bereszynski for a token three minutes Berg could have been testing the water on the defender’s absence against St. Pat’s hoping that it wouldn’t be picked up and able to claim that it had no impact on the match if it was detected.

With a tight schedule in place and the final qualifying round draw taking place 36 hours after the final whistle, time was limited for the Bereszyknski question to be raised.

Were Legia hoping that a quiet word and a warning would suffice if Bereszynski’s appearance was highlighted? Would UEFA overlook it allowing the defender to play in the final qualifying round rather than throw the whole draw up in the air?

Since UEFA became aware that Bereszynski played while suspended Legia have been on the warpath blaming everyone but themselves.

Owning up to the mistake would have earned the club plenty of sympathy that may be repaid in the future one way or another.

Legia co-owner Dariusz Mioduski’s cringe worthy open letter to Celtic on Sunday was a classic case of deflection in which he attempted to play the victim card.

Having failed to employ competent staff capable of following well established UEFA procedures Mioduski is looking at the potential loss of £10m plus over the incident.

If UEFA stay true to their rules and uphold last Friday’s decision the reaction from Legia fans isn’t likely to be pretty.

Rather than blame Celtic over the incident Legia fans should look closer to home and ask why Berg decided to introduce a defender with his team just minutes away from completing a 6-1 aggregate win.

Over to you Henning and Dariusz.

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