The wife of Brazil goalkeeper, Julio Cesar, was robbed at gunpoint in Fortaleza late on Wednesday night.

Cesar had just played in the Selecao’s Confederations Cup win over Mexico in the city, when his wife became the latest figure in Brazil’s spiralling crime statistics.

Robbers held Susana Werner up at gunpoint, as she drove her car though the city.

She was not harmed, and played down the incident.

"It was a routine robbery, just like all the ones I've heard about," said Werner.

"It was the first time, but I was prepared to not react. The criminals were young and just wanted my belongings. There was no act of aggression, just a gun pointed at me."

"I told them to take everything including the car but they let us go," she explained further.

"Life goes on. I love Brazil and I have faith.

"It could have happened to anyone, there were three of them in the middle of the street, waiting for the first car which passed. I won the prize."

Crime is a major concern in Brazil ahead of the World Cup next year, when hundreds of thousands of cash-toting tourists are expected to descend upon South America’s most populous nation.

And it certainly does not cast the spiritual home of football in a good light when people start referring to robbery as “routine”, or suggest that having a gun pointed at their face does not constitute an “act of aggression.”