The manager of Tottenham Hotspur, Antonio Conte, said the club might appeal UEFA’s decision to award Rennes a 3-0 win in their postponed Europa Conference League game.
Recall that Tottenham Hotspur ought to play a must-win UEFA Conference League match against Rennes on Thursday, December 9, 2021. Due to a high number of coronavirus cases at the Premier League club, the match was postponed.
Rennes that finished the Europa Conference League group stage round as the leaders of Group G, refused to accept the decision. And the European football governing body stressed that the football body would not reschedule the match.
Hence, UEFA had to drag the issue to the body’s disciplinary committee to come up with a way forward.
Unfortunately for Tottenham Hotspur that needed to beat Rennes to qualify for the next round of the Europa Conference League, the disciplinary committee decided to award Rennes a 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
The decision did not only earn Spurs another defeat in the tournament, but it also ended the Premier League’s effort to qualify for the next round of the tournament as they finished bottom of the group.
Ahead of the Tottenham Hotspur EFL Cup quarter-final game against West Ham United scheduled to take place later today, December 22 at 20:45, coach Antonio Conte described UEFA’s decision as unfair and incredible.
The Italian tactician noted that the club could drag UEFA’s decision before the Court for Arbitration of Sport in an attempt to overturn the decision.
“It is not definitive, but there is another step to confirm or not this incredible decision,” the coach said.
“We are very, very confident for the next step and I repeat we deserve to play the qualification on the pitch, not in the court. I can’t accept this. We are very, very disappointed with UEFA for this decision.
“It’s unfair for sure. We deserve to play for qualification on the pitch, not in this way. I’m very disappointed with UEFA’s decision.
“I don’t want to understand but I hope in the future, in the next step, something can change because we deserve to play for qualification on the pitch, not in this way. It’s not our fault.”
Conte definitely upset about UEFA's decision to kick #THFC out of the Conference League: pic.twitter.com/M3du9NPIC5
— The Spurs Web ⚪️ (@thespursweb) December 21, 2021
Aside from the European Conference match between Tottenham Hotspur and Rennes, the Premier League game between Tottenham and Brighton was postponed on December 12, 2021, due to the outbreak of the pandemic at the club.
Also, the Tottenham Hotspur Premier League game against Leicester City scheduled to take place on December 16 was postponed due to the outbreak of the pandemic at Leicester City.
However, on December 19, 2021, Tottenham Hotspur returned to action when they hosted Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur stadium. The Premier League game ended in a 2-2 draw.
