Mauro Lustrinelli

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Personal information
Mauro Lustrinelli
Full name	Mauro Lustrinelli
Date of birth	26 February 1976
Place of birth	Bellinzona, Switzerland
Height	173cm
Position	forward
Club information
Current club	Sparta Prague
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1993-01 2001-04 2004-06 2006-	Bellinzona FC Wil FC Thun Sparta Prague	164 (109) 79 (22) 66 (36) 13 (3)
National team**
2005-	Switzerland	7 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 June 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 26 June 2006.

Mauro "Lustri" Lustrinelli (born 26 February 1976) is a professional Swiss footballer who is currently playing for Czech club Sparta Prague as well as the Swiss national team.

He started his professional career at the club AC Bellinzona in 1994 and played for them until 2001. Then he transferred to FC Wil and played there in the next three seasons before transferring to FC Thun in 2004. In 2005, he was the Swiss Super League's second best goalscorer with 20 goals scored and also qualified with the club for the UEFA Champions League. He signed with his current club Sparta Prague in 2006.

Lustrinelli made his debut for the Swiss national team on 17 August 2005 in a friendly match against Norway and won up to this time a total of six international caps for the team. He is also part of the Swiss team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany. On 19 June 2006, he was substituted in to play the last four minutes of the Swiss team's World Cup group match against Togo and after only one minute of playing he created the assist that allowed Tranquillo Barnetta to score the goal for the final 2-0 win for Switzerland, giving them the real chance of passing the group stage.

In Ticino, the Canton where Lustrinelli is originally from, after the great game against Togo a crazy "Lustrimania" exploded. In some place with such an intensity that several school kids, so called "Lustrini", were banned to come to school lesson with Lustrinelli's national team shirt.

Being originally from the northern part of Ticino (so called Sopraceneri), Lustrinelli grew up close to the referee Massimo Busacca, who is currently representing Switzerland at FIFA World Cup 2006. Within their close friends in Ticino, Lustrinelli and Massimo are known as twin brothers.

Lustrinelli is one of the best players in his position that the Swiss football ever produced.

[edit] External links

Official UEFA player page

	Switzerland squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Zuberbühler \| 2 Djourou \| 3 Magnin \| 4 Senderos \| 5 Margairaz \| 6 Vogel \| 7 Cabanas \| 8 Wicky \| 9 Frei \| 10 Gygax \| 11 Streller \| 12 Benaglio \| 13 Grichting \| 14 D. Degen \| 15 Džemaili \| 16 Barnetta \| 17 Spycher \| 18 Lustrinelli \| 19 Behrami \| 20 Müller \| 21 Coltorti \| 22 Yakin \| 23 P. Degen \| Coach: Kuhn