Brazil-Argentina match: Police storm field to arrest players for Covid violation

The World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina was suspended on Sunday due to four English Premier League players who allegedly ‘lied’ on documents they filled out on entry to the country.

Surreal: Brazil v Argentina stopped inside 7 mins by Brazilian Federal Police walking on field to detain 4 Argentinian Premier League players who failed to disclose they are based in Britain, breaking COVID protocols upon entering Brazil. Chaos ensued 🇧🇷🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/ANG5L61SaK

— roger bennett (@rogbennett) September 5, 2021

The players were Tottenham pair of Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero and Aston Villa duo Emi Buendia and Emi Martinez.

The players are said to have reported for international duty with Argentina but things were stopped due to a row over falsified Covid-19 documents.

As per the Daily Mirror, the Brazil government, FIFA and Conmebol had struck an agreement that the mentioned players would be allowed onto the field to take part in the match.

But just minutes into the match, officials from Brazilian health authority Anvisa stormed the pitch with police officers and demanded that the match be stopped until the four players were off the field and detained.

“By decision of the match referee, the match organised by FIFA between Brazil and Argentina for the World Cup Qualifiers is suspended,” South American football governing body CONMEBOL tweeted.

Por decisión del árbitro del partido, el encuentro organizado por FIFA entre Brasil y Argentina por las Eliminatorias para la Copa del Mundo queda suspendido.

— CONMEBOL.com (@CONMEBOL) September 5, 2021

“The referee and the match commissioner will submit a report to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, which will determine the steps to be followed. These procedures strictly adhere to current regulations.”

“The World Cup Qualifiers is a FIFA competition. All decisions concerning its organisation and development are the exclusive power of that institution.”

Las Eliminatorias para la Copa del Mundo es una competición de la FIFA. Todas las decisiones que atañen a su organización y desarrollo son potestad exclusiva de esa institución.

— CONMEBOL.com (@CONMEBOL) September 5, 2021