By Angelo Amante

ROME, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Beppe Grillo, the former comedian who founded the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, will lead it at a meeting on Saturday with Mario Draghi set to determine whether the prime minister designate can form a government, 원커넥트 sources said.

Without support from 5-Star, the largest group in parliament, it will be extremely difficult to Draghi to achieve the required majority in both houses of parliament.

For years after creating the 5-Star Movement in 2009, Grillo, now 72, was virtually its only public face, whipping up support in vitriolic tirades against Italy's business and political elite.

He withdrew from the limelight ahead of 5-Star's election triumph in 2018, when it became by far the largest party, but has always continued to intervene at crucial times.

Saturday's meeting is one such moment, for 5-Star and for the country, as Draghi, 73, tries to muster parliamentary backing for a government to tackle the twin coronavirus and economic crises.

During 5-Star's rise Grillo also used to rail against the euro project which Draghi personified as European Central Bank chief from 2011-2019, adding further spice to the meeting which will close Draghi's round of consultations with political parties.

In recent years, 5-Star has shifted towards more pro-EU positions, but opinion polls show many of its supporters remain reluctant to support a government led by a former ECB president, a symbol of the establishment 5-Star was created to oppose.

The head of state Sergio Mattarella asked Draghi on Wednesday to try to form a government after the previous one, led by Giuseppe Conte, was brought down due to the collapse of the ruling coalition. (Editing by Gavin Jones and Nick Macfie)