Mexican football star freed after kidnapping ordeal

May 30, 2016 | 05:15 pm PT

Mexican footballer Alan Pulido has been rescued a day after the striker for Greek side Olympiakos was kidnapped in the restive northeastern state of Tamaulipas, the state government said early on Monday.

The 25-year-old Mexico national team player disappeared in his hometown of Ciudad Victoria on Saturday night, when he was intercepted by armed people after leaving a party.

"The most important thing is that is he is here with us," Tamaulipas Governor Egidio Torre Cantu told reporters in footage broadcast on local television, flanked by Pulido.

The player was wearing a multicolored t-shirt and shorts and had a bandage wrapped around his right hand. The Tamaulipas government said on its Twitter page that Pulido was undergoing a medical examination.

Tamaulipas, which abuts the U.S. state of Texas, is an especially violent part of Mexico, which is grappling with grisly drug gang violence.

Pulido was a member of the Mexican national team that went to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

He has also played for the Greek team Levadiakos and the Mexican club Tigres.