Derk Boerrigter, Celtic's Dutch winger, faces the prospect of a two-game ban after he was issued with a notice of complaint by the Scottish Football Association's compliance officer for alleged simulation.
The Dutchman went to ground inside the box during the SPFL Premiership game against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Wednesday night after he was challenged by Dave Mackay. The St Johnstone captain was sent off by referee John Beaton for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, and Nir Biton converted from the spot for the visitors' second goal in a 3-0 win.
Boerrigter is alleged to have breached rule 201 - "causing a match official to make an incorrect decision by committing an act of simulation" - and has been offered a fixed two-match suspension. If he does not accept the charge and suspension he will face a disciplinary hearing on Thursday, August 21. Boerrigter has until 3pm on Monday to respond to the fixed suspension offer. St Johnstone appealed Mackay's red card and that too will be dealt with on August 21 by a tribunal.
Ronny Deila, the Celtic manager, said he would speak with Boerrigter if he felt his player had a propensity for diving. He said: "I haven't seen it but, as I said yesterday, there will be decisions for and against Celtic and over 38 games the best team will win. But I don't like diving. I don't want [my players] to cheat."
Meanwhile, Celtic's place in the Champions League play-offs looks secure after Legia Warsaw failed to submit the prompt appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport they had promised.
Henning Berg, the Legia coach, said on Thursday that the Swiss-based court could decide on their bid to overturn their effective expulsion from the competition by the end of the weekend, but his chairman then said UEFA had failed to co-operate with their attempts to force a fast-track hearing and CAS had received nothing from the Polish club just before close of business last night.
UEFA's appeals body on Thursday upheld a decision by its disciplinary body to award Celtic a 3-0 third qualifying round second-leg win after the Poles fielded an ineligible player.
That allowed Celtic to step up preparations to face Maribor away from home on Wednesday in the play-offs - they set off for Slovenia on Tuesday - while Legia face a Europa League clash at Aktobe in Kazakhstan on Thursday.
In a statement just before their offices closed, CAS said: "If an appeal is filed today before close of business, it seems unlikely that a hearing can still be organised on Monday.
"The only option for Legia would be to request urgent provisional measures.
"UEFA would then have a
short time limit to send a written answer and the CAS would issue an order granting or rejecting the request, probably on the same day [Monday].
"If the request is rejected,
there will be no change in the programme of the UCL [UEFA Champions League] next week."
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