Polish football club Legia Warsaw on Friday demanded that European football governing body Uefa take action over a “scandalous” tifo unveiled by fans of Cypriot club Omonia before the two clubs faced off on Thursday night.

The banner, which was unfurled by Omonia fans at the northern end of Nicosia’s GSP Stadium, read “17/1/1945, the Red Army liberated Warsaw”, referencing the date on which Soviet forces seized Poland’s capital from the Nazis.

This emphasis of the Soviet Union’s hand in liberating Poland from Nazi occupation was not welcomed by Legia, who described the tifo on Friday as “scandalous” and said it was “intended to distort the truth”.

“On behalf of the club’s community and of the people who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Warsaw and Poland, we contacted Uefa demanding a decisive reaction immediately after the match,” they added.

The banner also drew the reaction of Jaroslaw Krolewski, chairman of Legia’s rivals Wisla Krakow, who issued a scathing jab in the direction of Cyprus’ Education and Sports Minister Athena Michaelidou.

He called Michaelidou to “call Omonia and ask them to stop embarrassing themselves in the stands”.

“And since you’re responsible for education, maybe work on teaching history in schools. Clearly, it’s not working on your end, and you know nothing.”

Polish Football Association chairman Cenary Kulesza echoed Legia’s language, also describing the tifo as “scandalous” and calling on Uefa to ensure there are “severe consequences for the authors of this provocation aimed at our country”.

“I firmly object against this falsification of history and against the insulting of the Polish people,” he added.

Poland’s embassy in Nicosia also intervened in the matter, writing in a post on social media that “we can see that Omonia fans are interested in Polish history, but remember: the Red Army removed the German occupation troops from Poland in 1945 and then stayed there for nearly 50 years.”

“In both history and sport, there is no room for imprecision,” they added.

On the pitch, there was no contention, with Legia easing past Omonia with a comfortable 3-0 win. Japanese international Ryoya Morishita opened the scoring after 17 minutes, before second half goals from Mateusz Szczepaniak and Pawel Wszolek secured all three points for the Polish side.

Legia are in second place in the Europa Conference League’s league stage, having won all four of their games so far. They trail English side Chelsea on goal difference.

Omonia are currently in 28th place and must finish in the top 24 to qualify for the competition’s playoffs. Their next game in the competition is at home against Austrian outfit Rapid Vienna on December 12.

They are one of three Cypriot teams competing in this year’s Europa Conference League, with Apoel currently in 13th place and Pafos FC currently in 16th place.

Apoel beat Norwegian outfit Molde 1-0 away on Thursday night, while Pafos FC succumbed to a 3-2 defeat away at Italian giants Fiorentina.