Conte Bemused By UEFA’s Decision Not To Reschedule Spurs-Rennes Game
Antonio Conte has been left bemused by UEFA’s decision not to reschedule Tottenham Hotspurs’ Europa Conference League clash with Stade Rennes which was called off because of a Covid outbreak in the English side’s camp last Thursday.
Tottenham reported 13 cases of coronavirus among their players and staff, leading to the game being called off as a result.
UEFA have since announced that the game will not be rescheduled and have referred the case to their Control, Ethics and Disciplinary body, with most likely result being that Rennes will be awarded a 3-0 win and Tottenham getting knocked out of the competition as a result.
Tottenham tried consulting with the Premier League to have their game against Leicester City on Thursday moved so the Rennes fixture can be fulfilled but the request was declined.
Conte is disappointed Spurs are being made to suffer through no fault of theirs.
"We want to play the [Rennes] game," Conte told reporters at a news conference.
"Tottenham deserves to play the game, to play the last game of this group.
"It's a really strange situation because we didn't play through no fault of our own but because of a big problem and because the government decided to close our training ground, to stop our training session for three days.
"For this reason we didn't play, not for another reason. I think it's not our fault for what happened. We deserve to play this game and to try to have a chance to go to the next round."
"We don't find a good solution between UEFA and the Premier League, why does Tottenham has to pay for this?
"It's not fair we have to pay for a situation that isn't our fault. I understand if we did something wrong but in this way, for the club, the players, the staff, it's very difficult to understand what is happening."
