In the first time after the final of Copa America 2021, Brazil and Argentina met on Sunday at Sao Paulo Neo’s Quimica Arena
However after six minutes of the match, officials from Brazil’s Health Authority interrupted the game to demand that four Argentinian players who travelled from the United Kingdom must be deported for violating Brazil’s health regulations.
Emiliano Martínez and Emiliano Buendía (Aston Villa FC), Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur) are under investigation for quarantine breaches.
They have been accused of failing to declare official documents that they had been in the UK in the past 14 days when they arrived on Friday.
The players are alleged to have declared that they had been in Argentina and Venezuela, but not the UK, despite their club’s games in the Premier League a few days prior.
Brazilian COVID-19 protocol states that anyone who has been in the UK during that time must undertake hotel quarantine for 14 days.
For this reason, the four players could not return until at least September 18, before a further 10 days in a UK quarantine hotel following a visit of a red-list country.
After authorities notified the deporting of the Argentinian UK players, CONMEBOL asked both teams to leave the field and they never reappeared.
New PSG signing Lionel Messi expressed his frustration about this situation and spoke afterwards with media in Sao Paulo.
He criticised the way they handled the situation stating “We are here for about three days; they were waiting for us. Why did they not go to the hotel? They could let us know and that’s all”.
It remains currently unclear when the fixture will be played, with the fixture presently suspended.
Wow! Thanks for the news, very accurate