One of the most important clubs in England, Tottenham is eliminated from the Conference League. The reason: the Covid outbreak that hit the team this month.
The progress of the positive cases prevented the team from playing in London, on the 9th, against the Frenchman Rennes, in a game that would define the future of the English association in the competition.
UEFA, the body that controls football in Europe, initially postponed the duel.
Tottenham, which only managed to return to the field this Sunday (19), in a 2-2 draw with Liverpool, after the internal outbreak cooled, suggested other dates, even offering to play in France, with reversal of command, as the pandemic control situation in England is not good.
All options, however, were refused by Rennes, which was irritated with the failure to carry out the confrontation on the original date.
The team was already in England and assessed that the rival had enough players, uninfected, to enter the field, having decided not to do so because they would have considerable shortages, which would reduce the chance of getting a good result.
In this scenario, Uefa, taking into account the tightness of the calendar, decided to defeat Tottenham, in a kind of WO (“walkover”), which is the impossibility of a team to compete.
The score of the match was defined as follows: Tottenham 0 x 3 Rennes. The result left the London team in third place in Group G, behind Rennes and Vitesse, from Holland.
Uefa’s decision is controversial because it considers that Tottenham “withdrew” from the match, which is not true. The only reason it did not go to the field on the established date was because the pandemic prevented it.
“We deserved to play this match to try to move to the next stage. It’s not fair that we pay for a situation in which we are not to blame,” lamented coach Antonio Conte.
Through a spokesman, Tottenham said: “We are disappointed by the refusal to allow more time for the game to be rescheduled. But we accepted the decision and our focus now will be on the competitions that we continue to play.”
The club, which has top scorer Harry Kane, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, captain of the French team that won the 2018 World Cup, and Brazilians Emerson Royal and Lucas Moura, participates in the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Cup of the English League.
The Conference League, from which the team was ejected, is in its first edition and is the third most important competition in Europe, behind the Champions League and the Europa League.
Unknown and unimportant clubs such as Mura (Slovenia), Jablonec (Czech Republic), Bodo Glimt (Norway), Flora Tallinn (Estonia) and Lincoln Red Limps (Gibraltar) played in the group stage.
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