Levski Sofia have filed a complaint to UEFA against the result of their Conference League defeat to Ħamrun Spartans after the referee failed to spot a Maltese player’s infringement before scoring a crucial goal.
The Spartans became the first Maltese side to progress to the Play Off round of a UEFA club competition when they overcame Levski Sofia in a penalty shoot-out after the Reds had won the match 2-1.
Reports said on Saturday that the Bulgarian side had filed a complaint to the European governing body UEFA over the Spartans’ second goal scored by Ryan Camenzuli.
Levski are contending that Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs had committed a technical error when after the Bulgarian side score their equaliser, he failed to spot that Ryan Camenzuli had run beyond the half way line before play resumed before the kick-off.
BREAKING: Levski have filed a complaint, asking UEFA for their Conference League clash with Hamrun to be REPLAYED! The reason is that a Hamrun player entered the Levski half (as the 📸 shows) before the Maltese side resumed the match after conceding a goal. Then Hamrun scored… pic.twitter.com/DfC0xwGGgt
According to the Laws of the Game, for every kick off, all players except the player taking the kick-off must be in their own half of the field of play.
Levski have filed their complaint as from the action they have put forward to UEFA, the Spartans managed to score the all-important goal from Camenzuli that sent the tie into extra-time eventually penalties.
The Spartans went on to win the match 4-1 in a penalty shootout, during which goalkeeper Henry Bonello save two penalties and Matteo Fedele rammed home the winner.
The Bulgarian side are urging UEFA to follow its rules and order the match to be replayed since a technical error has been committed by Kovacs.
Ryan Camenzuli scores winner for Ħamrun Spartans
Sources have told the Times of Malta that Levski Sofia officials were unaware of the incident after the match and only discovered the incident on Friday.
It is understood that when the Bulgarian side lodged the complaint, the UEFA referee observer contacted the Romanian referee on Saturday, informing him about the incident.
Club sources have confirmed to the Times of Malta that the appeal is set to be heard on Tuesday in front of the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Board, with a ruling set to be issued on the same day.
Ħamrun Spartans will meet Partizan Belgrade in the first leg of the Play Off Round on Thursday, in the Serbian capital with the return leg pencilled for the National Stadium on August 25.
