Sky TG24 reported that el-Bakroui, who set of explosives at Maelbeek metro station, used identity documents belonging to 27-year-old footballer Ibrahim Maaroufi, who was born in Belgium, to rent an apartment in Paris, which is believed to have housed some of the assailants involved in the November attacks.

El-Bakraoui is also reported to have travelled to Athens from Venice's Marco Polo airport on July 24th. 

Salah Abdeslam, the Paris attacks suspect arrested in Brussels days before the city came under attack, is also said to have travelled to Greece via Italy during the same period.

El-Bakraoui flew to the northern Italian city of Treviso from Brussels on July 23rd. The ticket for the Ryanair flight was bought by another man, Abderahman Benamor, and paid for with a credit card, Sky TG24 reported. El-Bakraoui, who left Greece from Venice the next day, travelled using a Belgian document. 

Maaroufi, who is of Moroccan origin, played for Inter between 2006 and 2009, before being sold to another Italian team, Vicenza.

He came back to Italy for a year in 2014 to play for Paganese Calcio, before returning to Belgium in December to join Schaerbeek Football Club.