Tell your son Angel not to return: Argentina's World Cup-winning star Di Maria receives death threat

One of the prominent names in the world of football, Angel di Maria, is facing a big threat from a crime syndicate in Rosario. As reported by Argentina's local media, an anonymous note was dropped in the house of the World Cup winner on Monday morning. The note contained a chilling death threat for the family of Di Maria.

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Angel di Maria's family threatened

Amid the rising crime in Argentina's city, Rasario, from where Lionel Messi also hails, a jolting report has come forward. Di Maria, who was instrumental in Argentina's FIFA World Cup win in 2022, has been warned to not return to the city and should he do the dare then there will be consequences waiting for him.

"Tell your son Angel not to come back to Rosario because we will k*** a family member. Not even Pullaro is going to save you. We don't leave paper notes. We leave bullets and dead people behind," read the message, according to the news portal Infobae, citing police sources.

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Police Investigation started

Argentine police and prosecutors are investigating an anonymous death threat to soccer star Ángel di Maria delivered in his hometown of Rosario early Monday.

Staffers of the Funes Hills Miraflores condominium where the World Cup winner usually stays in the region, said they found a package containing a death threat to Di Maria’s family if he returned to play for one of the city clubs.

The 36-year-old winger at Benfica in Portugal said recently he could play again for his boyhood club Rosario Central. He was currently in the United States touring with Argentina.

“That kind of threat brings a lot of social commotion and that is their aim — to make the population scared, hit public figures,” Esteban Santantino, who works in security for the local government, told broadcaster Todo Noticias.

Rosario has been rocked by waves of violence between rival drug-dealing groups. The city homicide rate is 22 per 100,000 residents, far above Argentina’s average of 4.2 per 100,000.

The violence in Rosario affected another World Cup winner a year ago. Unidentified gunmen shot at a supermarket owned by a relative of Lionel Messi’s. They also left a message that read: “Messi, we are waiting for you.”

(With inputs from AP)