The 23-year-old son of ex-footballer
Cristiano Lucarelli was arrested on suspicion of rape in Milan
on Friday.
Mattia Lucarelli, who plays for Serie D side Follonica in
southern Tuscany, was placed under house arrest on suspicion of
gang rape against an American student after a night together in
a Milan disco in March 2022.
Also arrested was a 22-year-old friend of Lucarelli, also a
soccer player, Federico Apolloni, formerly of Follonica and now
with Livorno.
Cristiano Lucarelli, Mattia's father, was long a talismanic
striker for Serie A and Serie B outfit Livorno, also in southern
coastal Tuscany, before having short spells at Shakhtar Donestks
and Parma late in his career.
He had effectively kept his beloved but unsung home-town club
Livorno in the top flight for four years.
The rugged but effective journeyman goal-getter scored 53
times in 73 matches in his first two Livorno seasons.
In 2005 he beat the likes of AC Milan's Ukraine star
Andriy Shevchenko and Inter's Brazil striker Adriano to the
Serie A marksman's title.
In all, he scored 92 goals in 146 appearances for
Livorno.
Seldom has one man been so lionised as the symbol of
such a small Serie A club - partly because of non-sporting
reasons.
Livorno have an openly leftist hard-core fan base and
Lucarelli made no secret of his like-minded sympathies,
celebrating goals with a two-fisted salute and once briefly
claiming Livorno were penalised ''because we're Communists''.
His shirt number, 99, was a tribute to left-wing ultra
group Brigate Autonome Livornesi, founded in 1999.
He also had a Livorno logo tattooed on his left forearm.
In an Italy under-21 game in 1997 he celebrated a goal by
unveiling a Che Guevara T-shirt, a controversial gesture he
claimed later affected his Italy prospects.
In the end he won three Italy caps, scoring once in a
2005 friendly, but was left out of the 2006 World-Cup winning
squad.
During an Azzurri injury crisis six months later he
earned a recall from his former Livorno boss Roberto Donadoni
and played a brief part in Italy's 2-1 away win against the
Faroe Islands.
Lucarelli's seemingly perfect relationship with Livorno
soured when club president Aldo Spinelli sacked coach Daniele
Arrigoni.
He was further hurt after fans criticised a sluggish
performance in April 2007. Some even turned their backs on their
idol and went as far as accusing him of match fixing.
The unprecedented slur spurred him to say he'd stay to
help a struggling Livorno avoid the drop but then take his
services elsewhere.
photo: Lucarelli joining Parma in 2008
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