Growing up, every young football fan dreams of one day being able to pull on the jersey of the team they grew up watching and supporting. However, only a select few get the chance to realise such a dream.
One player that was lucky enough to fulfill his boyhood dream is Cristiano Lucarelli, a Livorno legend who grew up in the port city and went on to create history and also much controversy in his time with the Amaranto.
Lucarelli is not only the symbol of the club due to the fact he is a local lad and fan, but also due to his extreme left wing politics (which he never hid, far from it), something that endeared him to the Livorno tifosi, who are well known for their extreme left wing, communist beliefs.
Lucarelli was born on October 4, 1975 and grew up in a area known locally as Shanghai; a rough neighbourhood built in the 1930s under facism. Life wasn’t easy growing up, but the neighbourhood helped to shape him into the player and person he would later become.
The Italian broke onto the scene on March 27, 1997 when he made his debut for Italy U21s against Moldova at the Armando Picchi – Livorno’s home stadium. He managed to get his name on the score-sheet in the second half and when he did, he created controversy with his celebration.
After bagging his debut goal, he ripped off his Azzurrini jersey and underneath there was a t-shirt with a picture of Che Guevara. He was widely criticised for this very public display of his politics and it also stinted his Azzurrini, and later, his Azzurri career.
After brief spells with the likes of Perugia, Atalanta, Lecce and even in Spain with Valencia he moved to Torino in 2001. He did well in his first season with the Granata, but the second was a disaster as he was accused of being overweight as Toro were relegated.
He then decided that he wanted to realise his lifelong dream and play for hometown club Livorno. He eventually got his move but was forced to take a massive pay cut, a billion lire at the time. He later said that, “Some players buy themselves a Ferrari or a yacht with a billion lire; I bought myself a Livorno shirt.”
He also decided to take the number 99 shirt in homage to the extreme left wing ultra group Brigate Autonome Livornesi, known as BAL, which sit in the Curva Nord at Livorno home games and were founded in 1999.
His dream was to strike up a partnership with Igor Protti, another legend at the Tuscan club. However, Protti decided to retire the season Lucarelli had joined. This didn’t deter the former Valencia man as he picked up the phone and persuaded him to come out of retirement. The two took Serie B by storm scoring 51 goals between them, gaining promotion back to Serie A after 55 years away.
The first game of the new season saw Livorno travel to the San Siro to face AC Milan. Eleven thousand Amaranto fans made the trip north to witness Lucarelli equalise twice in a dramatic 2-2 draw.
Livorno finished ninth that season ahead of their bitter rivals Lazio, and Lucarelli was once again the main man as he finished top scorer in Serie A that season with 24 goals, an incredible achievement considering he was playing with a newly promoted, provincial team.
Just to put the icing on the cake he earned a call-up to the national team for a friendly against Serbia in The United States.
His final season was to end in controversy as he was accused of match-fixing and demanded to leave despite another impressive haul of goals in Serie A that season, scoring 20. The pressure was simply too much for him to handle and he left for Shakhtar Donetsk in 2007.
Despite the controversy surrounding his departure, the past simply couldn’t be forgotten; in four years he helped bring them back to Serie A, scoring 101 goals in 161 games.
He did have one last spell with his beloved Amaranto as he was loaned out to them in the 2009-10 season, where he was relatively successful scoring 10 goals in 28 games.
Political controversy aside, it is always refreshing to see a hometown boy play and succeed with the team he grew up in admiration of. No matter who you support it is great to see the joy on their face as they ball hits the back of the net – It just means that much more to them.
Lucarelli was a controversial character in Calcio but he certainly won’t be forgotten, especially by the Livorno faithful.
