It’s Wednesday night, the score is Legia Warsaw 2 Celtic 0 and there are three minutes remaining of the match.

On comes Bartosz Bereszynski for the Polish, with his team winning 6-1 on aggregate, and he doesn’t really do much.

The referee blows the whistle and Hoops drop out of the Champions League with a whimper.

But wait a minute, here comes Fifa to save the day just hours before the draw for the next round.

It appears Bereszynski picked up a red card in the Europa League last season and was meant to be suspended for this tie.

Because of this, the scoreline is overturned and Celtic are awarded a 3-0 victory. Due to the first leg ending 4-1 to Warsaw, the aggregate score is now 4-4 meaning the Scottish side go through on away goals.

Did Bereszynski’s introduction in anyway alter the game? No. Would Celtic have won the game if he hadn’t come on? No. 

Even though I understand that rules are rules and according to the Uefa disciplinary regulations article 21: “A match is declared forfeit if a player who has been suspended following a disciplinary decision participates in the match,” surely common sense should prevail?

The suspended player had no bearing on the overall result. If he came on and scored the winning goal then I would completely agree with the decision.

But Warsaw gained no advantage from the substitution. It wasn’t an attempt to cheat their way to victory or to get one over Fifa. 

It was a stupid clerical mistake and begs the question that if this was a Real Madrid or Bayern Munich who were facing expulsion from the competition, would they have the guts to kick them out or would they be hit with a fine and told to not do it again?

When Celtic take on Maribor later this month they will thank their lucky stars they have been handed a second bite of the cherry.

New manager Ronny Deila said the decision was “very strange,” but he may find he has a job for another few months because of it.

Not to mention Fraser Forster is now likely to stay at Celtic Park with the club still in Europe’s premier compeition.

Looks like Celtic really have dodged a bullet and they have Fifa to thank.