Andres Escobar was murdered 24 years ago.
The brother of the late former Colombia international Andres Escobar has admitted he fears World Cup failure could mean that Colombia’s players face threats to their lives.
Escobar was murdered in his native Medellin just 10 days after conceding the own goal which sent his country home from the 1994 World Cup in the United States in a 2-1 defeat to the hosts.
Speaking on the anniversary of his brother’s death, Escobar’s sibling Sachi warned that supporters should think before exacting any form of revenge on the team, which was eliminated from the World Cup on Tuesday, losing to England on penalties.
Speaking to Colombian media about the pressure facing past and current Colombia players, Sachi – who now manages Ecuadorian side Universidad Catolica, said that the family of Carlos Sanchez – who conceded two penalties during his country’s World Cup campaign, must be feeling “desperate and powerless” after the threats he received, and admitted that his country had “learned nothing” nearly a quarter of a century after his brother’s death.
“As a brother who has gone through this, I know what must be going through their heads, and I wouldn’t want anyone to go through that.”
“Carlos must be feeling both sad for the mistake he made, and very afraid, and his family too.
“My brother never received any threats, they just shot him dead in the most cowardly way. The fact that people are still allowed to say these things on social network sites, even threaten his with death, making players and their families fear for their lives, shows me that nothing good came out of Andres’ death, nothing was learned.
“These people are just low-life who are not real Colombian football fans, who should be arrested and thrown into jail. But despite what happened to Andres there are still no laws in the country to stop them.”
