Argentine player in hospital after attack in Peru

Argentine soccer player Neston Gaitan was taken to hospital in the Amazonian city of Iquitos after his neck was cut with a broken jug in an attack at a restaurant, Peruvian media reported on Saturday.

Iquitos police had identified Gaitan''s attackers and issued arrest warrants, the Lima newspaper El Comercio said on its website (elcomercio.pe), quoting a statement from Gaitan''s first division club CNI. 

Two men had threatened to kill Gaitan in a confrontation in an Iquitos nightclub two weeks ago, after the player defended his girlfriend who had been insulted by one of them, El Comercio said.  

The attack at lunchtime on Friday, in which the defender also received wounds to his back, was the third violent  incident suffered by a soccer player in recent months in Latin America.

Paraguay forward Salvador Cabanas was shot in the head in a Mexico City bar during an argument last month. Former Argentina defender Fernando Caceres recently left hospital after being shot in Buenos Aires four months ago in an attempted robbery.