Lucarelli: 'I kept Parma promise'

By Football Italia staff

Alessandro Lucarelli through tears celebrated Parma’s return to Serie A. “I made a promise. I kept my promise.”

The Ducali went bankrupt in 2015, but this evening became the first ever Italian club to win three promotions in a row from Serie D to the top flight.

Lucarelli was the captain at Parma when they went under and he is still wearing the armband tonight.

“I made a promise. I said I’d take Parma back to Serie A. I kept my promise,” Lucarelli said through tears on Sky Sport Italia.

“It can’t be real, it’s impossible. Nobody could’ve imagined a finale like this, not even in my wildest dreams. The others were celebrating, then we heard a huge cheer from the stands. I don’t know what happened.

“This is a journey we started three years ago in front of these amazing fans. We had difficult moments, we always got back on our feet. They never gave up and I am proud to have been their captain.

“Now I can stop. I don’t know, we’ll see. I just need to celebrate right now.”

Lucarelli had said last year that he was going to retire, but once they earned promotion from Lega Pro to Serie B, he changed his mind and decided to stay on for one more season.

He turns 41 in July and it’s likely he will now hang up his boots to join the Ducali staff.

Frosinone had the advantage and had gone 2-1 up over Foggia, which would’ve sent Parma into the play-offs, but incredibly conceded a naïve counter-attack at the 89th minute.

“When Frosinone went 2-1 up, we felt almost dead and were preparing for the play-offs. Then we heard the crowd cheer and didn’t know what was going on,” added Amato Ciciretti, who scored Parma’s second goal.

“We thank Foggia, as they really did us a huge favour.”

Watch Serie A live in the UK on Premier Sports for just £9.99 per month including live LaLiga, Eredivisie, Scottish Cup Football and more. Visit: https://www.premiersports.com/subscribenow