Spurs Duo & Aston Villa Pair Receive International Bans After COVID Chaos Last Year

Four Argentina players have received international suspensions following the chaotic scenes with saw Brazil vs Argentina abandoned in September last year.

The fixture was sensationally stopped by Brazilian health officials walking onto the pitch after just five minutes of play.

COVID rules at the time stated that any person who had been in UK within 14 days of arriving in Brazil had to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival.

Neither Aston Villa's Emiliano Buendia and Emiliano Martinez nor Tottenham Hotspur's Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso had not followed that protocol.

As a result, all four were this week hit with with two-game bans, which will see them miss Argentina's next couple of World Cup qualifiers.

Argentina have already qualified for Qatar 2022.

They have games against Venezuela, Ecuador and now Brazil left to play, after FIFA declared that the abandoned fixture must be replayed.

Players pictured leaving the field after Brazil vs Argentina was suspended in September 2021

IMAGO/Xinhua

The football governing bodies of both Argentina and Brazil have also been fined £40,000 each by FIFA for the game being abandoned, as reported by BBC Sport.

The Brazilian soccer association must pay a further £400,000 for order and security infringements, while its Argentinian equivalent received a bill of £160,000 for failing to meet its obligations in this area.

None of the four players are expected to travel to South America during the March international break as a consequence of their bans, leaving Villa manager Steven Gerrard more time to work with two of his star players.

Meanwhile, Spurs boss Antonio Conte will get the chance to spend more time on the training ground with Romero.

Lo Celso is currently on loan at Villarreal, having left Tottenham in the January transfer window.