By Victor Kanayo
Reports from Argentina reveal that the life of Lionel Messi, the recently crowned FIFA best player, is under heavy threat.
This is after two people on motorcycles shot at a supermarket belonging to the family of his wife Antonela Roccuzzo in Rosario, Argentina’s Santa Fe province on Thursday, according to local media and the city’s Mayor, captured by Reuters.
The attackers thereafter, left a threatening hand-written message for 35-year-old Messi, Argentina’s captain and seven-times World Player of the Year, on the shop door.
Reuters also reported that Television images showed bullet casings on the sidewalk where the business belonging to Roccuzzo’s family is located.
Reacting, Santa Fe’s Security Minister Claudio Brilloni told reporters that authorities did not have any firm assumptions regarding the motives for the attack.
Prosecutor, Federico Rébola, said the Roccuzzo family had not received any previous threats, a Rosario media outlet reported.
There are now concerns as murder rate in Rosario is among the highest in Argentina, as gangs linked to drug trafficking coexist, according to judicial complaints, and clashes causing injuries and deaths are frequently reported.
The attack came weeks before Argentina play two friendly matches in the South American country, three months after Messi led the team to victory in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, though none of the games will take place in Rosario.
Argentina will tackle Panama on March 23 in the capital Buenos Aires and on March 28, they play in the province of Santiago del Estero against Curacao.
Though, Argentina’s Coach, Lionel Scaloni has not unveiled his squad, the matches will be the team’s first in the country, since the World Cup which ended in December 2022.
