Luis Figo 'killed Inter Milan's unlucky black cat'

The Inter Milan footballer Luis Figo faced protests from fans after he was accused of deliberately running over a black cat at the club’s training ground following a string of bad results.

The Portuguese star was booed as he arrived for training ahead of Sunday's match against Siena.

Banners were held up bearing the slogans “Figo, you’ve killed a black cat, the whole world is disgusted with you” and “Figo, shame for Inter, justice for the cat”.



The controversy erupted after Vittorio Feltri, editor of the Libero newspaper, wrote that Figo, 35, had run over the cat because it was bringing the team bad luck.

The footballer, whose team is top of the Serie A league but crashed out of the Champions League in March, strenuously denies the allegation. Mr Feltri alleged that Figo had run it over in his sports utility vehicle but that instead of ending a club run of poor results he was injured in the next match.

In Italy black cats are deeply unpopular due to their association with bad luck and are often killed.