*Undated
Tottenham have been thrown out of Europe despite even offering to play on successive days to get their outstanding Europa Conference League tie against Rennes played.
Spurs were prepared to face Rennes on Monday December 20th – 24 hours after facing Liverpool - but the alternative date was one of a number rejected by the Ligue 1 side leaving the north Londoners' paying the ultimate price of losing their place in Europe.
The original fixture was postponed due to a Covid outbreak at Spurs and the two clubs could not agree a date for a rearrangement, meaning French side Rennes have been handed a 3-0 victory by UEFA.
That has now condemned Antonio Conte's side to a third-place finish in Group G behind winners Rennes and Vitesse, denied them a knockout round tie against Rapid Vienna and sent them crashing out of the competition.
UEFA had a deadline of December 31 by which point any rearranged game had to be played.
With Rennes's winter break starting this week and Spurs's December schedule already packed there was limited space to squeeze the game in.
A UEFA statement said: "Following several positive cases of COVID-19 that were identified from players and staff of Tottenham Hotspur FC, the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Stade Rennais FC - scheduled to be played on 9 December 2021 in London, United Kingdom – could not be played."
"The matter was submitted to the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, for a decision to be taken in accordance with Annex J of the Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League (2021/22 Season)."
"Based on the Article 30 (4) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations and given the urgent circumstances of the matter, the ad-hoc chairman of the Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body referred the case to the Appeals Body. The Chairman of the Uefa Appeals Body took the following decision: To declare 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)."
UEFA asked Spurs to move one of their domestic games this month to make space for the Rennes clash and an effort to postpone last week's trip to Leicester was rejected by the Premier League before it was eventually called off anyway due to the Foxes Covid issues.
Conte maintained last week: "We want to play the game. Tottenham deserves to play the game, to play the last game of this group. 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, to stop our training session for three days."
"We deserve to play this game and to try to have a chance to go to the next round. It's not fair we have to pay for a situation that isn't our fault. I understand if we did something wrong but in this way, for the club, the players, the staff, it's very difficult to understand what is happening," Conte continued.
Eight Tottenham players and five staff members tested positive for Covid and Tottenham detailed 24 hours before the match, with case numbers rising, that it was not possible to go ahead.
Rennes were left furious at the late call and the French side hit out at their opponents for making a 'unilateral decision'.
Competition rules state a match must be played as long as the team has 13 outfield players and a goalkeeper.
Spurs were understood to have just about enough players available, without the suspended Ryan Sessegnon plus their injured and Covid-affected players, to meet that threshold but they hoped common sense would prevail with their side so severely weakened.
A statement from Rennes went on to accuse Conte's side of a 'lack of fair play'. "Following the press release published by Tottenham at 9pm, this Wednesday, Stade Rennais FC would like to clarify the following facts," the Ligue 1 club said.