What’s with all these attacks on soccer players all of a sudden?

Lionel Messi escaped injury earlier today when a punk kid took a swing at the Barcelona star as he was leaving a restaurant in Buenos Aires.

“There was a crush of people waiting outside,” said Pablo Moyano, who was working in the restaurant. “There were kids, reporters, photographers waiting … and one of the kids tried to punch him. I don’t know if he pulled it off. He went running afterward.”

And so you have the latest incident of Soccer Rage, in which fans take to the pitch — or in some cases, the street — to attack players or coaches. What’s going on here? Among recent incidents:

• Former Bulgarian national team player Daniel Borimirov picks fight with a coach at his son’s youth league game. Mayhem ensues.

• Celtic coach Neil Lennon endures another in a series of fan attacks, this one by a guy in a Yankees cap.

• Cameron Belford of the English team Bury FC is accosted on the field by a group of teenagers — during the game — with one of them punching him in the face.

• A Bundesliga game between St. Pauli and Schalke was abandoned in the 88th minute after a fan threw a plastic glass full of beer at a linesman.

• On Christmas day last year, a fan brandishing a handgun rushed the field in a Thai Premier League match between Nakhon Pathom and Sisaket.

• Also in Argentina, a man stormed the field and threatened opposing goalie Rodrigo Barucco with a knife.

And that’s just what I could find on short notice. So, who’s laughing at that idea the Romanians had for crocodile-filled moats now? Huh?

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Messi unharmed after youngster throws punch [NBC Sports]