Malcolm and Claudinho do not play Chile

The increasingly fierce battle between European clubs and the Brazilian national team took a new turn on Wednesday (1), when players Malcom and Claudinho were forced to leave Brazil and return to their club in Russia, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) reported.

“They received constant calls from their club Zenit Sao Pittsburgh, which forced both of them to return to Russia on Wednesday,” said striker Malcom and midfielder Claudinho. release.

The players were called up after nine Brazilian Premier League teams were told that their clubs would not release them to play in a country listed in the UK’s COVID-19 red list, as they would have to quarantine for 10 days on the way back from South America. .

The nine did not travel to Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers against Chile on September 2, Argentina on September 5, and Peru on September 9.

Claudinho and Malcom joined the squad in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend, and while they are training normally, they are not going to Chile.

“The Brazilian Football Confederation, with the support of FIFA rules, spoke to the players and made it clear that they could not be subject to any penalties threatened by the team. However, after some conversations with the selection coordinator, Juninho Paulista, and coach Tite, they decided to return,” says the federation. Brazilian.

The Brazilian Football Confederation sent a formal complaint to FIFA asking it to impose “all applicable sanctions against Zenit”.

Brazil leads 10 South American qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, while Argentina is second. The top four teams automatically qualify for Qatar.