UEFA has thrown out Legia Warsaw's appeal against their expulsion from the Champions League.
Champions League: UEFA throw out Legia Warsaw appeal
The Polish champions beat Celtic 6-1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round but were consigned to the Europa League after UEFA ruled they fielded an ineligible player during the 2-0 second-leg victory at Murrayfield.
Bartosz Bereszynski played for the final three minutes of the match but it later transpired the defender had not been registered for the previous three matches - two against St Pats and the first leg against Celtic - so could not have served the three-match ban he carried over from last season's Europa League.
Celtic were subsequently paired with Slovenia champions Maribor in the final play-off stages for a place in the Champions League group stages while Legia dropped into a Europa League qualifier against Aktobe of Kazakhstan.
The decision to expel them from the competition infuriated the Poles who claimed the punishment was 'severe in the extreme' and called on Celtic to 'do the honourable thing by stepping aside and allowing them to take their rightful place in the competition'.
The Poles also argued that they should not have been thrown out due to what they referred to as a 'minor administration error' but European football's governing body has stood by their original sanction.
In a brief statement UEFA said: "The UEFA Appeals Body met yesterday following an appeal by Legia Warszawa against the decision taken by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body on 8 August.
"The appeal lodged by the Polish club was rejected and, therefore, the original decision of the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Board is confirmed.
"The Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body had santioned Legia for fielding a suspended player in the third qualifying round return leg against Celtic in Edinburgh on August 6. That match has been declared as a forfeit, meaning Legia lost 3-0."
Legia reacted immediately to the decision indicating they will now take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a final effort to have the verdict overturned.
Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ the club's co-owner Dariusz Mioduski said: "Absolutely, we will appeal. We believe this is not just about Legia but it's about football generally and about a sense of fairness and justice.
"We will now try to exhaust every means possible and over the next couple of days we will try to ring fence next Wednesday's games and hopefully by Monday we will have the result of those proceedings."
CAS Secretary General Matthieu Reeb said the Poles had yet to lodge an appeal and any plea they were planning would have to be made as a matter of urgency.
"To my knowledge no formal appeal has been filed with CAS today but if there is one which comes tonight or tomorrow morning we will be able to initiate and expedite a procedure as we did with Luis Suarez.
"The lawyers for Legia should be ready to file at any time now. There is no time to lose and CAS will be ready. We have an expedited system to enable CAS to render a decision within a few days."
Celtic manager Ronny Deila said: "We have prepared for Maribor. They are a good team and they have been the champions of Slovenia in the last three years.
"There is nothing easy in the Champions League so it is going to be a hard game but we know what we are able to do when we are at our best. It is hard to say if they are better or worse (than Legia Warsaw) but they are a good team."
Celtic will travel to Slovenia for the first leg on Wednesday August 20, with the return in Glasgow on Tuesday August 26.
Sky Sports
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