CRISTIANO LUCARELLI (LIVORNO)

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Despite scoring around half of Livorno’s goals since their return to Serie A in 2004, Cristiano Lucarelli looks set to depart the club this summer

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he has got left though, as even the fans are now starting to go against him too. The turning point came in April against Reggina in a 1-1 draw. Amaranto supporters heckled Lucarelli and his colleagues during the game, claiming they were content to just settle for a draw and that there must have been some sort of conspiracy seeing as Cristiano’s brother Alessandro was in the opposition lineup. They seemed to forget the fact that their skipper had put them into a 28th minute lead.

crossosss Goals win football matches – it’s not rocket science. You can have the best defence in the world, but if there’s no one at the other end to put the ball in the back of the net, you are going to win very little. So why have no clubs – bar Russian outfit Zenit St Petersburg – attempted to sign Cristiano Lucarelli? After all, nobody has managed to score more times in Serie A in the last three seasons than the Livorno No 99. Now approaching his 32nd birthday, it seems unlikely that any of the big boys will take a risk on Lucarelli at this stage in his career. He is clearly still capable of performing at the top level, as his 18 League goals and five UEFA Cup strikes this term will testify. But he also happens to be something of a loose cannon. His time with his hometown club has been blighted by constant bickering with chief Aldo Spinelli, which has gone on to such an extent that they can no longer co-exist together. “It is clear that Spinelli is trying to force me out of the club,” he revealed in March after a 4-0 hammering at Udinese. “The President told me that with my behaviour I am influencing the atmosphere and the team.” Some might argue that as captain and talisman of the Amaranto, Lucarelli has a right to speak up. But with around 50 per cent of his side’s goals since their shock Serie A return after an absence of more than half a century, you could say that his performance on the pitch is all the ammunition he needs when going toe-to-toe in the arguing stakes with Spinelli. His form is certainly all that

Lucarelli is clearly still capable of performing at the top level, but he is also something of a loose cannon

“My son, who was in the stadium, asked me why the supporters were shouting ‘bribed’ to me – this is the thing that hurt me the most,” he revealed. “The fans must understand that what happened had nothing to do with football, it was an attack on the Lucarelli family and it’s just too much. If there hadn’t been my brother playing for Reggina, it wouldn’t have been this way.” It is often said that in football you cannot write the script, and that proved to be the case in this episode – with that perhaps being an apt word to describe the situation – as Lucarelli received support from an unexpected place. “How can you criticise a player like Lucarelli, who allowed us to stay in Serie A for three years in a row?” insisted, you guessed it,

At the age of 32, it is unlikely that any of the big boys of European football would take a chance on the outspoken Cristiano Lucarelli

President Spinelli. “Casting a doubt on what happened on the pitch hurt the captain. He loves this outfit so much that he was upset and offended. We must keep Lucarelli and do everything to convince him to stay.” Spinelli might not always say the right thing to the Press when it comes to his skipper – or Coaches, as Roberto Donadoni will testify – but his comments here are spot on. With all due respect to Livorno, they are one of Serie A’s minnows. They don’t have a big budget, their stadium is small and rarely full, they don’t have a Coach with any real pedigree and they certainly have few superstars. Lucarelli is one player who falls into that category and, unlike some of his peers, he doesn’t want to better himself. Pulling on the Amaranto shirt each week is his dream and the club’s continued position in the top flight owes so much to him. Livorno Ultras, perhaps realising this, attempted to defuse the row by offering Lucarelli the chance to watch the game against Palermo alongside them in the stands, seeing as he was suspended. The star striker rejected the opportunity, but did give hope to everyone connected with the outfit when he hinted at an unlikely U-turn. “What happened against Reggina was not the final straw, it was more like a whole bale of hay,” he said. “Right now I am trying to understand if I have the strength within me to say goodbye to Livorno. I have not yet made a definitive decision.” For the sake of the Amaranto’s top-flight future they had better hope that the No 99 shows a rare sign of weakness...

The row between Cristiano Lucarelli and Livorno President Aldo Spinelli has reached breaking point

Cristiano Lucarelli Club: Livorno Born: Livorno, 4/10/75 Position: Forward Ht/Wt: 1.88m/85kg Serie A debut: ATALANTA 4-2 Lecce, 31/8/97 Season Club Div Apps Gls 1992-93 Cuoiopelli Dil. 28 5 1993-94 Perugia C1 2 1994-95 Perugia B 5 1995-96 Cosenza B 32 15 1996-97 Padova B 34 14 1997-98 Atalanta A 26 5 1998-99 Valencia A 12 1 1999-00 Lecce A 30 15 2000-01 Lecce A 29 12 2001-02 Torino A 30 9 2002-03 Torino A 26 1 2003-04 Livorno B 41 29 2004-05 Livorno A 35 24 2005-06 Livorno A 36 19 2006-07 Livorno A 33 18 International debut: ITALY 1-1 Serbia, 8/6/05 International caps/gls: 3/1

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