Football
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Parma players will make Genoa trip says captain Alessandro Lucarelli

#INSERT type:image caption:Parma defender Alessandro Lucarelli has confirmed that he and his teammates will make the trip to Genoa. END#

Parma defender Alessandro Lucarelli has confirmed that he and his teammates will make the trip to Genoa at the weekend by their own means, although they have yet to find a place to spend the night.

Speaking outside the stricken Serie A club's training ground on Wednesday, the Parma captain said Sunday's clash with Genoa will go ahead.

"We'll go up there in four or five cars," he said. "We'll get there somehow. That's not going to be a problem. We want to play, like we wanted to play on Sunday. All we've got to work out now is where to stay."

Parma's players and staff have not been paid since July while the club has changed hands twice over the past few months, although promises made by the club's new president Giampietro Manenti to pay all outstanding wages have yet to be delivered.

In the meantime, debt collectors have paid the club several visits and some of the items they've seized -- including furniture from within the dressing rooms -- have appeared on the website of the Parma Institute for judicial sales to be auctioned off on March 5.

Manenti, meanwhile, said he is not going to give in to pressure as he continues his bid to save the club from bankruptcy.

"We completed the legal and fiscal due diligence overnight," he told sportal.it. "We've now got clear figures to work with. Of course now we've got to present our project to the prosecutors and then we can proceed.

"We are looking to sort the situation out, but over the past fortnight we've not had the possibility to work well. If only I'd been left in peace to work on things. Instead, we've been chasing problems. You've seen for yourself that everybody's against me.

"Before attacking me, I would have waited. We're going to carry on all the same.

"I had expected to be welcomed in a different way. People should blame the former owners, not the new ones who they don't even know yet. It's not a problem for me, though. I'm used to working, even in hostile conditions. I just hope that the sign 'closed for robbery' was not aimed at me."

Now a further problem has emerged, with Lucarelli explaining how difficult the situation is to reporters.

"The only news I can give you is that we can't even find somebody to wash our kit," Lucarelli said. "The laundry won't accept things from Parma anymore. It looks like we'll have to take our stuff home to wash ourselves from tomorrow."

Central midfielder Jose Mauri said that each day the players have less hope.

"You don't want to be known because of an issue like this," the Argentine international told ESPN FC Radio in Argentina. "But I am calm and it is a valuable experience. The last time we were paid was July of 2014, only the players and the technical staff. The trainers have not been paid in one year. No one tells us anything. Each day morale drops a bit more. Over the past two months we have had three different presidents. Now we have a new one who has promised to put up 100 million euros in Parma and save us all. There were lots of promises but after two weeks we have seen nothing. 

"Cassano's issue was personal and his contract was rescinded and he left," said the 18-year-old. "We have been trying to restore faith in the people who come to the club, showing that we are responsible and professional. But we have reached our limit and we haven't seen the president in a few days. On Sunday we did not play and nothing is clear about this Sunday, there are no guarantees. We could play just as we may not."

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