Cristian Romero, Emiliano Martinez and Emi Buendia will miss two Argentina World Cup qualifiers after being hit with FIFA bans.
The Premier League-based trio plus Giovani Lo Celso – on loan at Villarreal from Tottenham – will serve suspensions following FIFA’s investigation into September’s controversially abandoned qualifier in Brazil.
The game quickly descended into chaos after local health officials entered the pitch to remove starters Martinez, Romero and Lo Celso for failing to comply with Brazil’s Covid restrictions.
At the time, foreign travellers to Brazil who had been in the UK in the previous 14 were forbidden from entering the country.
The four players who had left England for international duty were accused of providing false information to Brazil’s authorities and ordered to quarantine ahead of the game.
But having failed to do so and three of them instead taking to the field, minus Buendia who was left out of Argentina’s match day squad, the match was eventually suspended after seven minutes.
Argentina have already booked their place at the Qatar World Cup though can still pip fierce rivals Brazil to top spot in qualifying.
They face Venezuela and Ecuador next month in their final two scheduled qualifiers though FIFA also need to find a date and location for the abandoned Brazil match.
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.
Argentina’s players walked off the pitch after the Brazilian health authority officials stormed onto it.
The four Argentina players were alleged to have declared false information on official forms to the country’s authorities and in doing so broken Covid-19 quarantine rules.
Romero and Lo Celso were understood to have travelled to South America for international duty against Spurs’ wishes.
Premier League clubs had made a collective decision not to release players during last September’s international window if it meant them travelling to red-list countries as they would face 10 days of quarantine on their return. – Sportmail