Brazil vs Argentina stopped as police storm pitch to DETAIN four Premier League stars

Sunday night’s Brazil vs Argentina match has been stopped as police and health officials storm pitch to detain four Premier League stars.

Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa had pursued immediate isolation of four Argentina players just hours before the Copa America champions are due to face Brazil in a World Cup Qualifier in Sao Paulo.

Anvisa said the players should’ve quarantined on arrival because they had spent time in the UK over the previous 14 days.

Just after kick-off, Brazilian health authorities have entered the pitch and brought a stop to the game between Brazil and Argentina 🚨

Reports before the game suggested local authorities had ordered Argentina’s UK based players to be deported due to a failure to quarantine 😮 pic.twitter.com/aSuXZyzVPA

— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) September 5, 2021

Although it did not name the four, the players with Premier League clubs are Emiliano Buendia and Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa and Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur.

Martinez, Lo Celso and Romero were each named in Argentina’s starting lineup, as Buendia was the only player of the four to miss out.

“Anvisa considers the situation a serious health risk and so has asked local health authorities to determine the immediate quarantine of the players, who are stopped from participating in any activity and should be prevented from remaining on Brazilian soil,” Anvisa said in a statement.

The Argentine squad travelled into Brazil on Friday, the day after beating Venezuela 3-1 in a World Cup qualifier in Caracas.

Under Brazilian rules, visitors who have been in the UK in the 14 days before entering the country must quarantine for 14 days on arrival.

Anvisa were tipped off that the four players didn’t state that information on their immigration forms and on Sunday said they confirmed the details given were “false”.

The confusion came just hours before the two arch rivals were scheduled to face off at the Corinthians Arena – the game kicked off at 8pm BST.

Spokespeople for both the Argentine team and CONMEBOL – the South American Football Confederation – did not respond to requests for comment.

An hour after the game was suspended, with Brazilian players organising an impromptu training session on the pitch, South American football’s governing body Conmebol said in a statement:

“By decision of the match referee, the match organized by Fifa between Brazil and Argentina for the World Cup Qualifiers is suspended.

“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.”

Under Brazilian rules, visitors who have been in the UK in the 14 days before entering the country must quarantine for 14 days on arrival.

Brazil’s health authority, Anvisa, said in a statement before the game: “Anvisa considers the situation a serious health risk and so has asked local health authorities to determine the immediate quarantine of the players, who are stopped from participating in any activity and should be prevented from remaining on Brazilian soil.”

Fans reacted with Brazil vs Argentina stopped as police storm pitch to DETAIN four Premier League stars…

Buendia, Romero, Lo Celso and Martinez lied saying that “they were not in England” when they literally played their matches during live TV, what did they expect… pic.twitter.com/xPZi0Ikg5b

— Nate Rôno ⅘ (@NateKRono) September 5, 2021

“There’s been an Emi arrested in the Argentina – Brazil game, but which Emi is it Chris Kamara???” #BRAARG #avfc pic.twitter.com/czXxvhWbqI

— Max (@MaxGarfield2003) September 5, 2021

@AnonyAkh: Priti Patel will be impressed.

@dariopoggi97: In three days, Brazil’s health authorities couldn’t do whatever they needed to do. No, they needed to storm the pitch in beautiful, La Casa De Papel-fashion. What a mess, what a shame. #BRAARG

@johnellisbfc: I’m no expert in international travel rules but if your going to lie about being in a country to enter another country it’s probably best not to appear in the worlds most watch sports league whilst in the said country a few days beforehand #BRAARG

@michael_macca: Puts #oafc to shame

@Jc_efc66: All tested negative but want them to isolate just let that sink in

@thej0emarsh: south american footy is the gift that keeps on giving

@luca_nyc: Peak Conmebol Shennanigans

@nafin24: just when u thought 2021 couldnt get any weirder

@bernarducs: just another average day in south america qualifiers

@joshboyle22: If this was the case and they had to quarantine for 14 days of entering Brazil why did we allow them to leave? There missing potentially 3 games with Villa to play 1 match with Argentina? Shambles. @villaontour_ @danbardell

@trainfanmatt: The world has literally gone mad

@DomineWimbury: Why didn’t they do this before the game?!

@LFCbbc12: Commentator said Argentina locked their changing room to keep the health agent out

@Callum0715: So you le them stay in the country for 3 days and let them get to the stadium, warm up, let the game start and let it play for 6 minutes before you think yeah fuck it let’s get them

@HassanNatha: Brazilian Police got more time on the pitch than Van De Beek this season

@Dreamcastzzz: Scenes when Emi Martinez starts to explain to the cops about his time at Arsenal

@TFSS_yt: Martinez: ‘I had to come out of quarantine because my time at Arsenal made me feel locked up and being isolated made me feel locked up as well, I couldn’t do it’

@BenevolentBarry: Imagine if that guy walked on this pitch and Roy Keane was playing😭😭😭

@BenrahmaBall: This is why South America is better than europe

@wdt17: Mad that it got to this point. They’ve had a 3 day warning but then the health authorities just picking the perfect time #brazilvsargentina