Conte to appeal UEFA’s decision to eliminate them

Antonio Conte

suggested that

plan to appeal UEFA’s “unfair” decision that resulted in them being eliminated from the Europa Conference League.

Tottenham’s final group game against

in December was canceled late after the Covid-19 breakout as their five staff members and eight players tested positive for coronavirus.

Since a date could not have been set for their game, UEFA ruled the Premier League side out saying they forfeited the game and rewarded the opposition side a 3-0 victory and eliminating them from the competition.

However, Conte objected to the UEFA decision and believes that outcome was affected by “personal interest”.

"

For sure this is an incredible decision,"

he said at a news conference previewing Wednesday's EFL Cup quarter-final with West Ham.

"This decision is not fair. All the world knows we were facing a big problem like COVID. 

"We didn't play through our fault but because we had many, many players with COVID and the government decided to stop our training sessions and to [shut] our training centre.

"Honestly for me, the players, the club and our fans, it's incredible the decision UEFA wanted to take. It's unfair for sure.

"We deserve to play for qualification on the pitch, not in this way. I'm very disappointed for UEFA's decision.

"I hope that in the future, in the next step, something can change because we deserve to play for qualification on the pitch, not in this way. It's not our fault.

"UEFA took this decision but then there's another step to confirm or not this incredible decision. But I repeat I'm very disappointed with UEFA because everybody knows the problem. 

"It means maybe someone doesn't know the problem we were having and maybe [there was] some personal interest [behind the decision]."

UEFA’s rules say that a team cannot call off a game should they have 13 players from their list A, with a goalkeeper able to perform.

Asked to clarify whether the "next step" means taking it to the Court of Arbitration for

Sport

, Conte added:

"Yeah. UEFA took this decision but there's another step and we're confident that there's another step.

"I repeat, it was incredible what UEFA did. Also, in explanation about this defeat, I have read that Tottenham couldn't play [a rearranged] game because of COVID cases. I dispute this. But [UEFA] took this decision.

"We are very, very confident for the next step and I repeat we deserve to play for qualification on the pitch, not in the court. I can't accept this. We are very, very disappointed with UEFA for this."

Rennes ended the Group G stage on top and made their way into the round of 16 of the competition, whereas Vitesse, who ended three points before Tottenham.

Follow

for the