Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and his then-pregnant girlfriend, Alessia Elefante, were beaten, bound and threatened with a knife during a violent break-in at their Paris flat in 2023, a French court has heard. The incident occurred while the couple, who have since married and had a child, were asleep at their home on the luxury Avenue Montaigne, when Donnarumma was then playing for PSG. A Paris criminal court is holding a two-day hearing into the robbery, which has left the couple, now settled in Manchester, "still profoundly shocked", according to their lawyers.

Court documents describe how four intruders climbed a ladder onto the roof and entered through a balcony window, waking Donnarumma by hitting him with a knuckle duster before demanding watches, cash and a safe code. Elefante said she was also struck, including while telling attackers she was pregnant, before handing over jewellery, a Cartier watch and €2,000 in cash. The gang fled with keys to a Mercedes and a Lamborghini alongside the valuables. Several suspects are already serving sentences, including two minors jailed for three and four years, while alleged masterminds Ilyas Kherbouch and Khyan Mamouni, both already imprisoned on other matters, deny the charges; a fourth suspect died by suicide in 2024.