Furious Antonio Conte lets rip at UEFA following forced Europa Conference League exit

Spurs boss Antonio Conte has launched a blistering attack on Uefa and vowed to appeal over their Europa Conference League exit.

Uefa ruled Tottenham forfeited their final match against Rennes on December 9 after it was called off following a Covid outbreak at the London club.

Spurs said they couldn’t field a side after 13 positive cases but Uefa said the match could not be rescheduled and referred the matter to its disciplinary body.

It awarded Rennes a 3-0 win and they top the group, with Vitesse runners-up and Spurs finishing third to go out of the competition.

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Tottenham were kicked out the Europa Conference League after they were forced to forfeit their clash with Rennes (Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

But Spurs immediately released a statement complaining and now boss Conte has said that Tottenham have not given up overturning the verdict.

Conte said: “For sure this is an incredible decision.

“This decision is not fair.

“Because all the world know that we are facing a big problem like Covid.

“We didn't play because we had many players with Covid and the government decided to stop our training session, to stop our training centre and honestly, for me, for the players, for the club, for our fans, it's incredible the decision that UEFA wanted to take.

Tottenham's Rennes forfeit came after an outbreak of Covid (Action Images via Reuters)

“It's unfair, for sure.

“We deserved to play the qualification on the pitch. Not in this way.

“I'm very disappointed for the UEFA decision and I don't understand. I hope that in the future, in the next step, something can change.

“We deserved to play. It's not our fault.

“UEFA have taken this decision but there is another step to confirm or not this incredible decision.”

Following the outbreak, Spurs were forced to close their first-team training centre, with their subsequent Premier League games against Brighton and Leicester also postponed.

Eight Spurs players and five members of staff tested positive for Covid-19. Uefa rules state that if clubs have 13 fit players on their A list, including a goalkeeper, they must play.

Conte added: “We deserved to play the qualification on the pitch. Not on the court. I'm very disappointed with UEFA.”