Theft, beatings and gagging: a violent armed robbery at the home of a former PSG star

The family was having dinner.

The former Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper lived through moments of terror after an armed gang subjected his home to a robbery described as "violent".

The programme "Vamos a ver" reported that five masked men stormed the home shared by former Paris goalkeeper Sergio Rico and his wife Alba Silva,

along with their two children, in an upmarket residential area on the outskirts of Seville at around 10:00 pm on Monday night.

The raid unfolded as the footballer, his wife, their two young children, Carla and Sergio, aged two years and four months, and his mother-in-law sat down to dinner.

Living in a residential complex ringed by a wall and guarded by private security, the couple had left the alarm systems off. It was still early, and they were midway through their meal.

The five attackers, faces covered and hands gloved, most likely belong to an organised criminal gang and are thought to have walked straight in through the front door.

French website "Foot Mercato" went further. Citing Spanish media, it said the thieves were extremely violent, not content with wrecking everything in their path. On top of stealing jewellery, watches and cash, they beat the family and gagged them, turning a quiet night into the worst nightmare of their lives.

Rico has been without a club since leaving Qatar's Al-Gharafa last summer.