(Football news) Tottenham have been knocked out of the Europa Conference League after being made to forfeit their final group‑phase tie at home against Rennes 3-0 despite Antonio Conte feeling that the process has been unfair. The game was scheduled to be played on Thursday 9 December, Spurs most likely needed a win to finish above Vitesse Arnhem in second place and qualify for the playoffs in the Europa Conference league to reach the last 16.

Spurs had announced that the tie would not take place owing to a Covid outbreak at the club, which had forced them to temporarily close the first-team area of their training ground on the advice of the Health and safety protocols. Conte had said that eight players and five coaches had tested positive. Uefa rules say games can be postponed if a club has fewer than 13 available senior players and no goalkeeper.

The case was passed to Uefa’s appeals body who said “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.,"

Spurs said: “We are disappointed by the ruling of the Uefa appeals body and the refusal to allow more time for the match to be rescheduled. We have to accept this ruling, however, and our focus now turns to the competitions we remain in.”

Conte had made his feelings plain last Wednesday “Tottenham deserves to play the game. 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.

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Tottenham defender Davinson Sanchez says UEFA's decision to rule the club forfeited their Europa Conference League home match against Rennes is "completely unfair saying “Having a right to play, it is not fair for us [that UEFA] just say you are out of the competition," he told Sky Sports News. “More [so] knowing that you didn't play the game because of the Covid cases. We prepared the game, we were focused, we were doing everything to play Rennes. It was the night before that we got the news that the game was not going to be played. I think it is a bit unfair for us as a club, for our fans because it was a competition that we were struggling playing away from home but we still had a chance to stay in the competition so it is completely unfair.”