Thursday has been a rather chaotic day for Tottenham, with them forced to cancel the fixture against Rennes in the UEFA Europa Conference League due to an outbreak of Covid-19 within the squad and staff.
Spurs recorded 13 positive cases before the game, and a last minute cancellation was required to stop any further contamination, which didn’t sit well with Rennes.
The club had travelled for the fixture only to be told they couldn’t play it, and Tottenham’s attempts to reschedule on December 15th haven’t gone down well.
In fact, it’s not only Rennes that this situation affects, but also Vitesse in the Netherlands, who could qualify for the next round if Spurs were to lose and they were to beat NS Mura.
Responding to the whole situation, the club put out a statement on their official website, explaining that the outcome of the game between the Premier League and Ligue 1 clubs could be ‘crucial’ for the Eredivisie side, and despite that match being cancelled, it seems theirs has to go ahead, which ‘creates an undesirable situation’.
With ‘UEFA regulations requiring that all matches in the group’s final round of play must be played at the same time’, and both Tottenham and Vitesse pushing for qualification, there must be a ‘fair, simultaneous battle’.
So far, the Dutch club have yet to receive a message from UEFA, and therefore they assume ‘the game in Arnhem will be played normally’.
Should the Spurs-Rennes game be moved, that could be a ‘significant disadvantage for Vitesse from aa sporting point of view, because both teams are highly dependent on each other’s result’.
They do offer their concerns to the Tottenham squad because ‘everyone’s health is always number one’, but point out that ‘it could be even more disadvantageous for Vitesse to choose not to play’ on Thursday.
The choice shouldn’t come down to them, but to UEFA, which is why they have asked ‘a number of questions’ and are prepared to ‘investigate concrete solutions all with the aim of creating an equal and fair playing field for all teams in the group’.
Should that not happen, they will do ‘everything in their power to make the statement on the field instead of off it’.
