The Man Utd target whose career was destroyed by an assassin's bullet

In January 2010, the striker was looking forward to the World Cup and a future move to Europe - but one ill-fated nightclub visit changed everything
All it took was a matter of seconds for Salvador Cabanas' world to come crashing down around him.

Footballers know well that in the blink of an eye everything can change: a snapped cruciate ligament, broken ankle or lapse in discipline can send a promising career into an irreversible downward spiral.

In the former Paraguay international's case, though, it was not a stray boot or elbow on the pitch which served to shatter his dreams. A single bullet fired in the bathroom of a Mexico City nightclub destroyed his ascendancy as a striker of the highest quality and came close to taking his life.

 

Cabanas made a miraculous recovery from the attack, but the real battle was still to come.

Going into 2010, Cabanas appeared to have the football world at his feet. A relative late-starter in a region where talent tends to be spotted young and exported at the first chance, Cabanas began playing professionally in his hometown of Itaugua, located on the outskirts of Paraguayan capital Asuncion, for 12 de Octubre.

An unsuccessful spell with Guarani ended after a single season, upon which he was sent back to the modest 12. It was not until he moved to Chile and then Mexico that Cabanas began to turn heads, smashing 29 goals in 53 games for Audax Italiano, and then 61 in 106 for Jaguares de Chiapas.

His first Paraguay call-up had come in 2003 but he remained a fringe player behind the likes of Roque Santa Cruz and Nelson Cuevas and sat on the bench for the entirety of the 2006 World Cup as the Guarani bombed out in the first round.

Something seemed to click on the way back from Germany, however, as, at the age of 25, Cabanas suddenly stepped up a gear. That same summer he had swapped Jaguares for Mexican giants America, who saw instant returns on their investment, with 29 goals in his first season.

In both 2007 and 2008, the Paraguayan would finish as top scorer in the Copa Libertadores, while the former saw him awarded El Pais' prestigious South American footballer of the year award, joining the likes of Pele, Zico, Diego Maradona, Mario Kempes and Socrates in taking the prize.

It was not just America who were benefiting either; having netted just once in 14 caps prior to the 2006 World Cup, Cabanas scored three goals at the following year's World Cup and another six to help Gerardo Martino's Albirroja to third place in CONMEBOL qualification for South Africa, ahead of heavyweights Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia.



GOAL