Marcelo Saracchi’s Uruguay ‘fined £200k’ days after Celtic loanee’s recall

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Marcelo Saracchi has enjoyed a promising start to his Celtic career.

The 27-year-old made a season-long loan switch to the Hoops from Boca Juniors and initially was thought to be cover for Kieran Tierney.

But over the past few weeks, Saracchi has been in better form than the former Arsenal star and has linked up well with Celtic teammate Sebastian Tounekti.

As a result, Saracchi was rewarded with a recall to the Uruguay squad this month for their friendlies against the Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan.

However, Uruguay have now been hit with a fine.

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Uruguay punished for selecting weakened squad

Uruguay announced a 17-man squad including Saracchi on Monday afternoon, with the likes of Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde and ex-Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez left at home.

It’s a weakened squad for the games in Malaysia which have been organised by local company Cohesion Prima, who were excited to see Uruguay’s top stars play in the Asian country.

But that won’t be happening and as a result, according to freelance journalist Mark Walker, the Uruguayan FA have been hit with a £200k fine for selecting an understrength squad.

Former Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa is the manager and ultimately, his decisions have hurt the nation’s FA in the pocket.

How to watch Celtic’s Saracchi in action for Uruguay

Of course, with it being only a 17-man squad, there’s a good chance Saracchi features in both games for Uruguay.

The first against the Dominican Republic is on Friday, October 10 with a kick-off time of 13:45 BST. You can watch the match live via these channels:

And then Uruguay play Uzbekistan on Sunday, October 12 at 23:00 BST, although no specific broadcast details have been shared for that match.

You can probably assume, however, that the same channels above will screen the encounter live.