Tottenham’s Europa Conference League clash against Rennes has been postponed because of the club’s Covid crisis.
As Sportsmail reported, there was growing confidence at the north London club on Wednesday night that UEFA would agree to postpone the fixture.
This news is coming after at least 13 coronavirus positive cases were reported by the club, including 11 members.
Tottenham ’s Europa Conference League clash against Rennes has been postponed
Spurs officials had been in talks with representatives from European football’s governing body with a view to getting the game halted.
According to a club statement, “We are unable to confirm our UEFA Europa Conference League Group G home fixture against Stade Rennais tomorrow at 8pm UK” after a few positive COVID-19 results at the Club.
UEFA is continuing discussions and will provide an update as soon as possible.
The Club also advised that it closes the First Team section of its Training Centre, as per the DCMS and Health Security Agency advices. This is in the best interests of staff and players.
“All other areas in the Training Centre continue to be operational.”
Antonio Conte will love the news. He passionately spoke out against Wednesday’s decision.
Conte confirmed the number of Covid-hit members of the Spurs camp had swelled to 13 with another two people among the playing squad and staff testing positive — after being involved in training on Wednesday.
This comes as a result of the club reporting at least 13 coronavirus positive cases, including 11 players
UEFA rules stipulate that a match must be completed by a team if there are at least thirteen players who can play, which includes a goalkeeper.
Spurs had just enough players to cover the threshold, but Ryan Sessegnon was out of action and their Covid-affected, injured, or otherwise affected players were not available.
Their squad was so weak, it became obvious that common sense prevailed. Rennes had to be forced to travel to England, despite concerns that this would make it unsafe.
UEFA had on Wednesday maintained they were expecting the game ‘to take place as scheduled’ but were closely monitoring the situation.
A visibly upset Conte said: ‘The problem is every day we are having people with Covid.
‘People who yesterday weren’t positive, today are positive, and we continue to have contact. This is a grave problem. This is a terrible situation. Each day brings us positive things.
The exact number of players who have been infected is unknown. Seven people were initially affected before things escalated.
‘Everyone is a bit scared because we all have family and (think) why do I have to take this risk?
‘There are situations that made me very, very upset, very upset because the situation is serious and it is contagious and there is a big infection and now for sure we are a bit scared because tomorrow we don’t know what happens.
‘Today we had the training session, we prepared the game and yesterday two other positives, today two other positives and tomorrow, who?
‘Me? Maybe. Better me than a player for sure but I think that it is not right for everyone because we have family and we have contact with them.’
Spurs can be affected by a postponement, which causes a fixture stack-up. They must fulfill the fixture before December 31st and they have six matches left to play before January 1.
Wednesday’s two positive results came following standard pre-match UEFA Covid checks. Spurs might conduct an additional match on Thursday to combat the spreading virus.
Conte claimed that players worried about their family contracting the virus and said he was “upset” about the situation
Spurs are also set to request that the Premier League rearrange Sunday’s trip to Brighton and will be hopeful after Newcastle and Aston Villa had games called off last season when their cases hit double figures.
Manchester City accepted a request after receiving fewer than 10 positives, and Fulham was allowed to move two games.
With those who have tested positive forced to isolate for 10 days, Spurs could also have issues with their two games next week — at Leicester and at home against Liverpool.
Spurs’ outbreak began ahead of Sunday’s 3-0 win over Norwich, who were made aware of the issues in the north Londoners’ camp and non-involvement of those affected players whose status was known at the time.
Norwich’s players were back in on Wednesday and tested with no issues reported.