French soccer star's evening nightmare

Just a short post on what by anybody's reckoning must be one of most parent's horrors, and what the French sports daily L'Equipe, rather given to underestimation perhaps, headlined as "Mexès' crazy evening" ("La folle soirée de Mexès").

What should have been a simple family dinner at a restaurant ended rather dramatically for French football player, Philippe Mexès, on Thursday and is one he's unlikely to forget.

The AS Roma centre back was returning to his home after a meal in the Italian capital with his partner, Carla, and their two young children, when they were carjacked.

Two armed men stopped them in the street just outside their home, forced them out of their luxury vehicle and drove away.

What the carjackers didn't realise however was that one of the Serie A player's children was still strapped in and sitting in the back.

A police chase through the streets of Rome eventually ended when the two assailants abandoned the car on the side of the road.  And a quick check in the back revealed Mexès' 13-month-old daughter was unharmed and had apparently slept through the whole thing.

So a happy ending to what could have been a completely different tale.

Although not a regular in the French national side, the 26-year-old Mexès has eight caps for his country.

He moved to AS Roma in 2004 after six seasons at French first division side, AJ Auxerre.