December 20, (THEWILL) – Following the award of three points to Rennes by UEFA, Tottenham Hotspur has effectively been eliminated from the maiden edition of the Europa Conference League.
As THEWILL reported, Spurs’ final group match, slated for December 9, was not played because of a COVID-19 outbreak at the club. UEFA was forced to postpone the fixture at the last minute after Rennes had arrived in London.
Tottenham were in third place in Group G, three points behind second-placed Vitesse, and needed to win the match to advance to the competition’s play-off stages.
The crucial match could not be rescheduled, according to UEFA, since they were unable to reach an agreement that was acceptable to both parties.
After Spurs declared the match between the two sides had been called off, the Ligue 1 club had chastised their Premier League opponents in a statement, accusing them of “a lack of fair play.”
The dispute was brought to UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, which determined that Tottenham had forfeited the match and that Rennes had won 3-0, according to UEFA rules on match forfeiture.
Last week, Tottenham manager Antonio Conte said: “We want to play the game. 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 we don’t have fault for what happened. I tell you, we deserve to play this game and to try to have a chance to go to the next round.”
Tottenham returned to competitive action for the first time in two weeks on Sunday, drawing 2-2 with Liverpool after their games against Rennes, Brighton, and Leicester were postponed.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
