Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi promised players at his football team sex workers if they beat a top team.

A video on social media emerged this week, showing Berlusconi speaking at his club Monza’s Christmas dinner. The 86-year-old, who owned AC Milan between 1986 and 2017, bought Monza in 2018 and were promoted to Serie A, the Italian top flight, last season.

And on Tuesday, Berlusconi told those attending the Christmas dinner: “I told the guys … now you will play Milan, Juventus. If you win against one of these top teams, I’ll bring a bus of (sex workers) into the locker room”.

Berlusconi was accused of having sex with an underage sex worker in 2011, but was acquitted on appeal in 2015 after a judge ruled he had not known she was a minor.

He has already faced criticism for his comments. Berlusconi is currently a senator and Daniela Sbrollini, a female senator from the opposition Italia Viva party, said it was the “usual misogynist language from Berlusconi: a joke in bad taste that leaves you speechless”.

Monza beat Juventus in September, while they still have to play Inter Milan and AC Milan again this season.

Berlusconi, who is known for his insensitive remarks, is a three-time former prime minister but his Forza Italia party are now junior members of current prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition.

GO DEEPER

Silvio Berlusconi-backed Monza will play in Serie A for the first time in their history

(Photo: Getty Images)