Four players of Rio's football team Flamengo were involved in a scandal with eight prostitutes after the team's away match against Atletico Mineiro on Wednesday night.

Striker Marcinho, who is currently the top scorer in the Brazilian League, is being accused of verbal and physical attacks by two of the prostitutes.

According to one of the prostitutes, the player was enraged when she did not accept having relations with him without a condom.

The prostitutes said they had been hired for a party in Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno's country house in Ribeirao da Neves, in the outskirts of Belo Horizonte, where the match took place.

Besides Bruno and Marcinho, striker Diego Tardelli and goalkeeper Paulo Vitor are said to having been at the party.

The prostitutes pressed charges against Marcinho in a Belo Horizonte precinct.

Police officer Lilian da Silva, who registered the occurrence, said that only the physical exams on the prostitutes will prove if the attack truly happened, but she added that one of the prostitutes sported many bruises on her legs, hip, neck and back.

Flamengo, the current leaders of the Brazilian League, will return to Rio on Thursday afternoon, but the club confirmed that Marcinho and Bruno will remain in Belo Horizonte, as they likely have to testify in the police station.

It is not the first time Marcinho's name is involved in a scandal. Last week, a friend of the player borrowed his BMW and ran over two people in Rios Rocinha slum.

(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2008)