![Antonio Conte: ‘There are no positives [about easing a crowded calendar] and, for sure, this is an incredible decision’. Photograph: Alex Pantling/Getty Images](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DJOQIISLDLDSM7GLNWIWOKUYC4.jpg?auth=a8ece7f417c2197bec8a43912e9762cad41b0d970e6ee0a20f1e25b71638651e&smart=true&width=1024&height=575)
English League Cup Quarter-final: Tottenham v West Ham
Kick-off: 7.45pm, Wednesday. Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. On TV: Live on Sky Sports.
Antonio Conte has laid bare the depth of his anger towards Uefa over the decision to throw Tottenham out of the Europa Conference League, describing it as incredible, unfair and influenced by "personal interest".
The Spurs manager also made clear his determination to fight it at a higher level – in other words, the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The club have confirmed that they will consider going there with an appeal although, at present, it is nothing more than a consideration.
Spurs were unable to play their final tie of the group phase at home to Rennes on December 9th after they were affected by a Covid outbreak that saw eight first-team players and five coaches test positive. On the advice of health authorities, they temporarily closed the first-team area of their training ground. Uefa rules say that games can be postponed if a club have fewer than 13 available senior players and no goalkeeper.
When Spurs’s attempts to find a new date for the tie before Uefa’s cut-off of December 31st failed, the governing body awarded Rennes a 3-0 walk-over, meaning that Vitesse Arnhem advanced from second place to a two-leg play-off for the last 16. Had Spurs beaten Rennes, they would have finished second.
“There are no positives [about easing a crowded calendar] and, for sure, this is an incredible decision,” Conte said.
“This decision is not fair. It wasn’t our fault. It was because we had many, many players with Covid and the government decided to stop our training sessions, to stop our training centre. We deserved to play the qualification on the pitch.
“I’m very disappointed with Uefa because everybody knows the problem. It means that maybe someone does not know very well the problem that we are having. And I think only some personal interest.”
Spurs said in a statement on Monday that, despite the disappointment, they had “to accept this ruling . . . Our focus now turns to the competitions we remain in.”
But Conte, plainly, is not ready to give up. The winners of the Conference League will secure a spot in next season’s Europa League.
“I hope that in the future, in the next step, with the court, something can change,” Conte said. “Now it’s not definitive. Uefa have taken this decision but then there is another step to confirm or not this incredible decision.
Next step
“Is the next step court? Yes. We are confident that in another step, they take a normal decision. Not a decision in our favour, a normal decision. It was incredible what Uefa did but also in the explanation. I have read [they said] that Tottenham couldn’t play the game for Covid cases and, despite this, they took this decision. But we are very, very confident for the next step. I can’t accept this [from Uefa].”
Spurs are back in action in the quarter-final of the English Cup against West Ham on Wednesday and are potentially three games away from winning a trophy, should the EFL agree to make the semi-finals just one leg.
Conte confirmed Spurs no longer have any cases of Covid in their camp and the final player will return to training on Wednesday. Ryan Sessegnon picked up a muscular injury against Liverpool and will be out for 10 days.
West Ham will be without suspended Czech Republic defender Vladimir Coufal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Kurt Zouma and Ben Johnson have been recovering from respective hamstring injuries.
Manager David Moyes revealed "one or two" had recently tested positive for coronavirus, but did not specify if they were players or staff members.
