Femi Ashekun/
Premier League side, Tottenham Hotspur, have been kicked out of Europe, despite offering to play on successive days to get their outstanding Europa Conference League tie against Rennes played.
Spurs were prepared to face Rennes today, just 24 hours after playing Liverpool in the Premier League yesterday, in a proposed solution that would have stretched Antonio Conte’s squad to the limit.
But the alternative date was one of a number rejected by the Ligue 1 side, who played on Saturday and are in action for the final time before their winter break on Wednesday, leaving the north Londoners’ paying the ultimate price of losing their place in Europe.
UEFA today declared Spurs had forfeited the game after the two clubs were unable to agree a date for the fixture to be rearranged.
And their awarding of a 3-0 win for Rennes condemned Spurs to a third-place finish in Group G and has seen them miss out on a spot in the knockout round.
Rennes’ trip to Spurs on December 9 was postponed following a Covid outbreak among Conte’s squad and the north Londoners’ have been left disappointed given the lengths they went to in order to find a compromise rearrangement date.
As well as offering to play on back-to-back days, Spurs had also asked to move Premier League games including last Thursday’s trip to Leicester so they could face Rennes instead on Wednesday.
That request was rebuffed by the Premier League only for the game to eventually be called off anyway following an outbreak at Leicester.
Spurs were also willing to give up home advantage and play the game that was due to take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in France.
But none of their proposals were deemed satisfactory by Rennes. They were initially angered that the game was called off after they had arrived in England but their refusal to agree on a rearrangement having been offered a number of options has led to doubts about their desire to get the game played amid their own schedule.
UEFA had a deadline of December 31 by which point any rearranged game had to be played.
With Rennes’ winter break starting this week and Spurs’s December schedule already packed there was limited space to squeeze the game in.
A UEFA statement said, “Following several positive cases of COVID-19 that were identified from players and staff of Tottenham Hotspur FC, the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Stade Rennais FC – scheduled to be played on 9 December 2021 in London, United Kingdom – could not be played.
“The matter was submitted to the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, for a decision to be taken in accordance with Annex J of the Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League (2021/22 Season).
“Based on the Article 30 (4) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations and given the urgent circumstances of the matter, the ad-hoc chairman of the Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body referred the case to the Appeals Body.
“The Chairman of the Uefa Appeals Body took the following decision: To declare the 2021/22 Uefa Europa Conference League group stage match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Stade Rennais FC, that was initially scheduled to be played on 9 December 2021, as forfeited by Tottenham Hotspur FC, who is therefore deemed to have lost the match 0-3 in accordance with Annex J.3.1 to the Regulations of the Uefa Europa Conference League (2021/22 Season).”
0