Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 3:18 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 15:39

Tottenham Hotspur has been hit by a corona outbreak, Antonio Conte announced on Wednesday afternoon during the closing press conference. According to the Italian coach, eight players have tested positive for the corona virus. Five members of the technical staff would also have tested positive. Tottenham will play the crucial Conference League game against Stade Rennais on Thursday evening.

Conte indicated that the club is currently awaiting the exact seriousness of the situation. “The problem is that every day we have people with Covid,” said Conte. “People who were not positive yesterday and were positive today. We are in constant contact with each other. It should be clear that this is a serious problem. Everyone is a little scared. People have families. Why should we take the risk? That is the question. Who’s turn tomorrow? Me? I don’t know. Better me than a player, sure, but I don’t think it’s good for anyone.”

Tottenham will play at home against Stade Rennais on Thursday evening for a place in the knockout phase of the Conference League. UEFA regulations require a team with at least thirteen fit players and a registered goalkeeper to start the match. Recently, a match between Belenenses against Benfica was canceled for that reason. The home team started with nine players due to a corona outbreak, but saw the game stopped when it had only six players left on the field. There is a minimum number of fourteen players in the Premier League.

It is not known which Tottenham players have been infected. In any case, the group will have to be in mandatory home isolation. “This definitely upsets us because I’m here to talk about football, my players and the atmosphere I want to see tomorrow,” said Conte. “Instead, we’re talking about the people who have Covid.” Conte could not confirm whether it was the Omikron variant, but did emphasize that he has been vaccinated. “I think everyone should make their own decision. The question of which people have and have not been vaccinated, I like to pass on to people from the medical department.”

Tottenham and Vitesse compete for a place in the knockout phase of the Conference League. The Conte team will compete in-house against the already seeded Stade Rennais, while Vitesse, which, like The Spurs on seven points from five matches, playing at home against Mura. The goal difference is in favor of Tottenham (+3 versus +1).