Cristiano Lucarelli (Livorno, 4/X/1975) was characterized throughout his career for breaking the norm. In a football that tends to adhere to what is politically correct and in which players only open up on social networks in a somewhat superficial way, the Italian striker never hid his political position. Son of a trade unionist father who worked as a stevedore in the port of his beloved Livorno, birthplace of the PCI (Italian Communist Party), Lucarelli always kept in mind his humble origins and was faithful to his principles.
Turned into an icon for wanting to enjoy the best years of his career at Livorno, a historically left-wing and anti-fascist club, Lucarelli lamented in a telephone conversation with La Vanguardia that his performance on the pitch was overshadowed by the 'communist' label .
“I admit that it annoys me that so much has been said about my ideals, which I do not deny much less. But I think that my performance as a goalscorer despite not playing for any top club was important enough to give it more value”.
He is not without reason. In Italy he swelled to score goals, especially in Livorno, his home. In total he added 240 goals. Half of them celebrated with their fists raised in the Armando Picchi before theirs. With the modest Tuscan team he managed to be capocannoniere in Serie A with 24 goals in 2005, one short of the Golden Boot shared by Thierry Henry and Diego Forlán. He also managed to take his team to UEFA for the first time in its history.
But the road to meet Livorno was long. "It was a difficult marriage because the club had been in the lower divisions for a long time and I played in Serie A," stresses the former striker. It was not until the age of 28 that the alliance took place, a memorable moment.
And it is that when Livorno set foot in Serie B, in 2003, Lucarelli did not drop the rings. He stepped down from the elite with his sleeves rolled up, rejecting much more luscious economic proposals. From there was born his famous phrase "tenetevi il miliardo", "keep the billion (of liras)". “Livorno's budget didn't allow for great things and to fulfill my life's dream I gave up half a million euros. I did what my heart asked of me and I am satisfied with my choice”, he explains proudly.
Lucarelli gave glorious afternoons to his fans – now his son Mattia, a psychology student, in a Livorno refounded outside of professional football, is trying to do it on a smaller scale – although the first time they saw him shine he was not dressed in amaranth. It was in 1997, in a match for the Italian Under-21 team, with a goal against Moldova that would mark him for life.
In the celebration he took off his shirt and underneath it he wore another with the image of Che, "a revolutionary who later became a political figure," he says. “He played in my city and that shirt was a symbol of the Curva Nord. He was 20 years old and I did not think that this gesture would give so much to talk about ”. There the 'communist Lucarelli' was made known.
Toro di Livorno now trains Ternana, a Serie B club that has earned a promotion candidate. In Terni he fits like a glove because of his working-class character (“because of my ideas I was nice to them since I arrived”). He plays an offensive game, less and less countercultural in Italy. “There are many of us who have opted for this way of playing. The catenaccio is a bit old-fashioned.”
He agrees in that style with Gennaro Gattuso, a friend from his adolescence. With him she took her first steps as a professional at Perugia. Now the Milan legend directs Valencia, Barça's rival this Saturday and the club in which he played for a season without being able to leave his mark (only one goal). “With Rino we lived two years in the same house. He is a passionate man in a passionate city. I am sure that he will do well in Mestalla ”, he predicts.
Lucarelli prefers to avoid talking directly about politics at this time. What he does not ignore are the social problems that Italy is dragging, now in the hands of the far-right Giorgia Meloni. One of them concerns football, such as the xenophobic chants still present in the calcium stadiums. "Unfortunately there are too many cases. Not enough is done to combat racism," she criticizes.
Neither has he bit his tongue with the increases in the price of energy in recent months. She has openly expressed it through social networks. "Families have great difficulty paying their electricity and gas bills. There is a need for more awareness on the subject because there are many who have great difficulties. Also companies and even clubs."
Lucarelli does not see a short-term solution if the war in Ukraine, a conflict that has lacked more diplomacy, is not ended. "Italy could have worked much more in that aspect, just like the rest of the institutions. And not this year, but already in 2014, when there were all those murders in Donbass."
The striker knows the region, having played for Shakhtar Donetsk for a few months in 2007. "I like to document the places where I am going to work. I am against wars because they are never a solution to the problem. However, you cannot be superficial. You have to try to understand the causes of a war, not just stay in the facts".
