Gennaro Gattuso

Gennaro Gattuso
Personal information
Full name	Gennaro Ivan Gattuso
Date of birth	January 9, 1978 (1978-01-09) (age 31)
Place of birth	Corigliano Calabro, Calabria, Italy
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Milan
Number	8
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–	Perugia Rangers Salernitana Milan	010 0(0) 040 0(7) 025 0(0) 274 0(7)
National team2
1997–2000 2000–	Italy U-21 Italy	021 0(1) 065 0(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of November 24 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of November 19 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Gennaro Ivan "Rino" Gattuso, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI,^[1][2] (born January 9 1978 in Corigliano Calabro) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer. His main position is defensive midfielder; however, he sometimes plays on the right side of midfield. He currently plays for Italian club A.C. Milan, with whom he has twice won the UEFA Champions League, in 2002-03 and 2006-07, and also the Serie A title in 2003-04.

Club career

Early career

Gattuso started his career at the Italian side Perugia, but transferred in July 1997, at the age of 19, to the Scottish team Rangers. Walter Smith, who brought Gattuso to Glasgow, left the club in 1998. Smith's successor, Dick Advocaat, did not favour Gattuso and, after being played out-of-position as a right-back, the Italian was sold in October 1998 to then recently promoted to Serie A Salernitana for £4m. Despite his good performances, it was not enough to prevent the relegation of his side.

AC Milan

Milan spent £8m on Gattuso in 1999. His style allowed Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti to place the midfielder Andrea Pirlo to adopt an attacking approach. Gattuso, who sometimes is listed as a winger, does not deliver many crosses in a way the more conventional winger would normally do. Instead, he plays deeper moving up to central midfield in defence. He will often move forward to win the ball for the forward players and then return to his defensive position. His style of play is characterised by fierce tackling and hard work - a style which has earned him the nickname of Ringhio ("Growl" or "the Snarler").

In December 2005, at the final whistle of Milan's 3-2 defeat of Schalke 04 in the UEFA Champions League, Gattuso was seen seeking out and taunting Schalke's midfielder Christian Poulsen^[3] as a reaction to Poulsen's fierce marking of Kakà in the first leg. Gattuso insisted though that the press exaggerated the significance of the incident. However, his temper has caused him problems in the past. In a Champions League group stage match against AFC Ajax in September 2003, he was sent off during second-half injury time after slapping Ajax striker Zlatan Ibrahimović in the face with the back of his hand. He signed a contract extension in June 2003^[4] and in October 2004.^[5]

He played his 300th game for the club in a goalless Champions League draw against Lille on September 26, 2006, and he extended his current deal with Milan until 2011 on February 1, 2007.^[6]

On 23 May 23 2007, Gattuso won the Champions League for the second time in his career when AC Milan beat Liverpool 2-1 in the final.

On the 27 December 2007, Gattuso trained with his former club Rangers to regain fitness during the Serie A winter break whilst the whole team was visiting his wife in Scotland over Christmas. ^[7]

On 19 May 2008 it was announced, that after transfer speculation, Gattuso would remain at AC Milan following talks with chief executive Adriano Galliani over his future at the club.^[8]

On 15 August 2008 it was reported in Itallian press that Gattuso, had had a serious fall out with AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti and that it was Gattuso's desire to leave Milan and come back home to his wife's homeland Scotland and return to link up with former boss Walter Smith at Rangers, however these reports were laughed at by the player and by AC Milan.

International

Gattuso has been capped over sixty times for his country and played in the 2000 Summer Olympics, the 2002 World Cup, the Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, being one of the key players for the Italian team, winning the Man of the Match award in the 2006 FIFA World Cup knockout stage match against Ukraine. He and Pirlo formed a formidable partnership in the heart of midfield. In the Euro 2008, when both of them had to miss the quarterfinal match against Spain due to accumulated yellow cards, coach Donadoni had a hard time finding replacements as none of the reserve players could match the lung-bursting contribution of the Milan duo. Italy went on to lose 4-2 in the ensuing penalty shoot-out. Gattuso achieved a measure of notoriety for his postmatch celebrations after Italy won the World Cup in 2006, during which he removed his shorts and ran around the pitch pantless, until FIFA officials forced him to cover up.

Personal life

Gattuso is married to Monica, whom he met while playing for Rangers at an exhibition game in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The couple dated for a long while before marrying. They have a daughter, Gabriella, and also a new-born son Francesco. Monica is the sister of GMTV's Los Angeles correspondent Carla Romano.

Honours

Milan

• Serie A: 2004
• Coppa Italia: 2003
• Supercoppa Italiana: 2004
• UEFA Champions League: 2003, 2007
• UEFA Super Cup: 2003, 2007
• FIFA Club World Cup: 2007

International

• FIFA World Cup: 2006
• UEFA Under-21 European Championship: 2000

Individual

• 2006 FIFA World Cup Team of the Tournament
• 2006 FIFA World Cup Top 10 Players

Club statistics

Club

Updated to games played 24 November 2008.^[9]

¹European competitions include the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup
²Other tournaments include the Supercoppa Italiana and FIFA Club World Cup

International goal

Updated to games played November 17, 2007.^[10]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	November 15, 2000	Turin, Italy	England	1–0	Win	Friendly

References

External links

• Gennaro Gattuso FIFA competition record
• Official website
• Footballdatabase profile and stats
• Eccezzziunale... veramente 2 - The Internet Movie Database

Gennaro Gattuso - Navigation boxes Italy squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Buffon • 2 Panucci • 3 Maldini • 4 Coco • 5 Cannavaro • 6 Zanetti • 7 Del Piero • 8 Gattuso • 9 Inzaghi • 10 Totti • 11 Doni • 12 Abbiati • 13 Nesta • 14 Di Biagio • 15 Iuliano • 16 Di Livio • 17 Tommasi • 18 Delvecchio • 19 Zambrotta • 20 Montella • 21 Vieri • 22 Toldo • 23 Materazzi • Coach: Trapattoni Italy squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Buffon • 2 Panucci • 3 Oddo • 4 Zanetti • 5 Cannavaro • 6 Ferrari • 7 Del Piero • 8 Gattuso • 9 Vieri • 10 Totti • 11 Corradi • 12 Toldo • 13 Nesta • 14 Fiore • 15 Favalli • 16 Camoranesi • 17 Di Vaio • 18 Cassano • 19 Zambrotta • 20 Perrotta • 21 Pirlo • 22 Peruzzi • 23 Materazzi • Coach: Trapattoni Italy squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Winners (4th Title) 1 Buffon • 2 Zaccardo • 3 Grosso • 4 De Rossi • 5 Cannavaro • 6 Barzagli • 7 Del Piero • 8 Gattuso • 9 Toni • 10 Totti • 11 Gilardino • 12 Peruzzi • 13 Nesta • 14 Amelia • 15 Iaquinta • 16 Camoranesi • 17 Barone • 18 Inzaghi • 19 Zambrotta • 20 Perrotta • 21 Pirlo • 22 Oddo • 23 Materazzi • Coach: Lippi Italy squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Buffon • 2 Panucci • 3 Grosso • 4 Chiellini • 5 Gamberini • 6 Barzagli • 7 Del Piero • 8 Gattuso • 9 Toni • 10 De Rossi • 11 Di Natale • 12 Borriello • 13 Ambrosini • 14 Amelia • 15 Quagliarella • 16 Camoranesi • 17 De Sanctis • 18 Cassano • 19 Zambrotta • 20 Perrotta • 21 Pirlo • 22 Aquilani • 23 Materazzi • Coach: Donadoni