ANGEL DI MARIA’S family have reportedly been threatened with death if the player returns to Rosario in Argentina.
The winger, 36, left his home city after playing 36 games for Rosario Central in 2007 when he signed for Benfica, before he went on to play for Real Madrid, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.
Di Maria, who re-signed for Benfica in the summer, has 137 caps and 29 goals for the Argentina national team – who he helped lift the World Cup in 2022 after scoring in the final.
Yet despite being an icon in his home country, his family have now been the victims of a horrific threat.
According to Mdzol.com, a note was thrown at one of the entrances to the private neighbourhood of Miraflores at dawn on Monday morning.
The piece of paper, which was reportedly thrown from a grey car at 2.30am, read: “Tell your son Angel not to return to Rosario again because otherwise we will screw him up by killing a family member.
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“Not even Pullaro is going to save you. We don’t throw away pieces of paper.
“We throw lead and dead people.”
“Pullaro” refers to Maximiliano Pullaro, the Governor of Santa Fe Province.
The note was seized by police and the authorities are now investigating the scene, although it is not yet clear why the footballer has been targeted.
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The horrific ordeal for Di Maria and his family comes just 12 months after the front of a Rosario supermarket chain owned by the family of Lionel Messi’s wife Antonela Roccuzzo was shot at.
A message was later found at the scene which read: “Messi, we are waiting for you.
“Javkin is also a drug trafficker, he is not going to take care of you.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
