Four Argentina stars based in the Premier League have been suspended for two international matches in relation to the abandoned World Cup qualifier against Brazil last September.

Aston Villa duo Emiliano Buendia and Emiliano Martinez, along with Tottenham’s Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero, were hit with the sanction by FIFA’s disciplinary committee over a failure to comply with the world governing body’s return to football international match protocol.

The match on September 5 was called off after Brazilian health officials came onto the pitch in Sao Paulo over an alleged breach of Covid-19 rules by the quartet.

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Lo Celso and Romero are currently on loan to Villarreal and Atalanta respectively from Spurs.

The FIFA disciplinary committee has ordered the qualifier to be replayed at a location and date to be set by FIFA, and has fined the Brazilian and Argentinian federations 500,000 and 200,000 Swiss francs respectively over order and security breaches – around £400,000 and £160,000 each.

Each federation was also hit with a further 50,000 Swiss francs (just under £40,000) fine over the abandonment.

Vanguard News Nigeria