LONDON: Eight Tottenham players and five members of staff at the club have tested positive for the coronavirus, manager Antonio Conte said on Wednesday. "Every day we are having people with COVID," Conte said at a news conference a day before a match against French team Rennes in the Europa Conference League.
Conte said he has 11 players available for the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. UEFA rules state a game must go ahead as long as a club has at least 13 senior players available, including at least one goalkeeper.
Conte said "everyone is a bit scared" at the club because people are coming into contact with others who have tested negative but who later test positive.
"At the end of the training session today, again one player is positive, another member of staff is positive. Tomorrow, who? Me? Another player? Anther member of staff? We continue in this way but the situation is serious," he said.
Conte said he is concerned players and staff members at Tottenham might be passing on the virus to their loved ones. "We have families, we have contact with our families when we come back home. It is a situation that makes me upset. Now for sure we are bit scared, because tomorrow we don’t know what happens," a visibly emotional Conte said.
It has been reported in the British media that Tottenham has asked for its Premier League game against Brighton on Sunday to be postponed. Conte did not confirm that at the news conference. Six Premier League matches were postponed last season because of virus outbreaks at clubs.
Tottenham is in second place in its group in the Conference League - the third-tier European competition - and is tied on points with third-place Vitesse. Rennes has already won the group with one game left to play.
The runner-up qualifies for a playoff for the last 16 against a team that will drop down from the Europa League.