A wave of crimes against South American footballers has underscored the risks faced by players loath to return home from overseas clubs to a region where they, or their loved ones, risk being kidnapped, blackmailed or targeted by gangs with a message to send.
In recent months, the sport has been rattled by threats against the family of Argentine forward Angel Di Maria, the kidnapping in Colombia of Luis Diaz's father, and the blackmailing of Peruvian striker Paolo Guerrero's mother in a region of the world ravaged by drug trafficking and gang violence.
