The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) asked FIFA to prevent five Premier League clubs from fielding their Brazilian players for this weekend’s games as per the Athletic.
The likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Leeds United refused to let their Brazilian players leave on international duty and the Brazilian Football Federation have requested FIFA to ban these players from playing any club games for a five day period.
If FIFA go through with the request, key players like Alisson Becker, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino could miss this weekend’s clash against Leeds and the Champions League clash against AC Milan for Liverpool.
Meanwhile, the likes of Manchester City would not be able to field the likes of Ederson and Gabriel Jesus while Manchester United will be without Fred and Chelsea will be without Thiago Silva.
However, the Brazilian Football Federation are prepared to let Everton field Richarlison because of their good relationship with the Merseyside club and the fact that they allowed the player to compete in the Olympics.
According to the Independent, Premier League clubs will contest Brazil’s request to ban their internationals and there is growing confidence that the players will be allowed to feature for their clubs this weekend.
Apparently, there have been discussions between the Premier League, FIFA, FA and the government.
The Premier League clubs were only following the government’s orders when they decided to stop their players from leaving on international duty to red list countries. Punishing them for obeying the rules would be extremely harsh and it would impact their chances of doing well in the Premier League and the Champions League.
It remains to be seen how the situation unfolds now.
