Gennaro Gattuso with Milan in 2008 |
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Gennaro Ivan Gattuso | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 9 January 1978 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Corigliano Calabro, Italia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Defensive Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current club | Milan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1995 | Perugia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1997 | Perugia | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Rangers | 34 | (3) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Salernitana | 25 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999– | Milan | 330 | (9) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team‡ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Italy U-18 | 14 | (3) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997–2000 | Italy U-21 | 21 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000–2010 | Italy | 73 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Honours
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| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 9 September 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Gennaro Ivan Gattuso, Ufficiale OMRI (born 9 January 1978, in Corigliano Calabro, Italy) is an Italian professional footballer, who plays for Serie A club Milan. He mainly plays as a defensive midfielder. Gattuso is an aggressive, hard tackling player and in his prime, was widely regarded as one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. During his career at Milan, he has won the Champions League, in 2002–03 and 2006–07, and also the Serie A title in 2003–04 and 2010-11. His talismanic midfield partnership with Andrea Pirlo played a key role in Italy's World Cup victory in 2006 and Milan's successes both domestically and at European level.
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Gattuso started his career with Umbrian 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 Serie A club Salernitana for £4 million. Despite his good performances, it was not enough to prevent the relegation of his side.
Gattuso was bought by AC Milan for €8 Million. His style allowed Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti to place midfielder Andrea Pirlo in a more attacking position as Gattuso plays deeper in midfield. 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). He signed a contract extension in June 2003[1] and in October 2004.[2]
He played his 300th game for the club in a goalless Champions League draw against Lille on 26 September 2006, and he extended his current deal with Milan until 2011 on 1 February 2007.[3] On 23 May 2007, Gattuso won the Champions League for the second time in his career when Milan beat Liverpool 2–1 in the final.
On 27 December 2007, Gattuso trained with his former club Rangers to regain fitness during the Serie A winter break whilst his wife was visiting family in Scotland over Christmas.[4] The following December, Gattuso suffered a torn Anterior cruciate ligament early on in the 1–0 league win against Catania. However, despite the injury, Gattuso played the entire 90 minutes before being diagnosed by the club doctors after the match. He underwent surgery to repair the damage on 19 December 2008, in Antwerp. He was expected to miss up to 6 months of action, but managed to return to the Milan bench on 10 May against Juventus, a month ahead of schedule.
It was confirmed by AC Milan on the 14 December 2009 that Gattuso would remain a Milan player until 30 June 2012, after adding one more year to his current contract.[5]
The 2010-11 Serie A season with Milan was one of Gattuso's best seasons of his career, ending a three year goal drought, with his left footed strike outside the box being the only goal against Juventus F.C. on March 5, 2011. Gattuso later celebrated another goal in a 4-1 victory v.s. Cagliari Calcio with a long distance header with the goalkeeper off his line. Gattuso celebrated AC Milan's 18th Scudetto victory after a scoreless draw against A.S. Roma.
Gattuso had been experiencing vision problems in early September 2011, a few days before the season kicked off.[6] On September 9, 2011, Gattuso clashed with team-mate Alessandro Nesta whilst playing against Lazio in Milan's opening Serie A game of the 2011-12 season. He was substituted off directly afterwards (in the 20th minute) and diagnosed with paralysis of the sixth cranial nerve, resulting in diplopia in Gattuso's left eye,[7] an injury that despite his own determination may spell the end of his football career. He later revealed that he had seen team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic in four different positions during the opening stages of the match, and was unable to see Nesta, resulting in the pair's clash.[6]
In a UEFA Champions League group stage match against 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. His temper has caused him further problems when 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[8] as a reaction to Poulsen's fierce marking of Kaká in the first leg. Gattuso insisted though that the press exaggerated the significance of the incident.
On 15 February 2011, during Milan's UEFA Champions League game against Tottenham Hotspur, Gattuso pushed Tottenham coach Joe Jordan away by the throat during an incident on the sideline. Jordan was seen outside his allowed technical area exchanging words with Gattuso, in relation to the relatively physical game that had been played.[9][10] After the game, after Gattuso had shaken hands with the Tottenham players, video footage shows him confronting Jordan and head-butted him after another exchange of words, before being restrained by both teammates and opponents. "I lost control. There is no excuse for what I did. I take my responsibilities for that," said the 33-year-old Gattuso but also said Jordan provoked him throughout the game but refused to say what his comments were.[10][11] However, newspapers reported Joe Jordan had been using xenophobic, offensive calls for much of the game by calling Gattuso "fucking Italian" from the sidelines.[12] The following day it was announced that UEFA was looking at additional sanctions or punishment for Gattuso's actions against Jordan the previous day and has been charged with "gross unsporting conduct".[13] Gattuso was then suspended for five UEFA Champions League games. One for yellow card accumulation, the other four were for the incident with Jordan. The Tottenham coach also received a touchline ban by UEFA for his involvement in the exchange.[14]
Gattuso has been capped seventy three times for his country and played in the 2000 Summer Olympics, the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004, the 2006 World Cup, Euro 2008, the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup.
He was one of the key players in Italy's World Cup-winning 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. Gattuso achieved a measure of notoriety for his post-match celebrations after Italy won the World Cup, during which he removed his shorts and ran around the pitch in his underwear, until FIFA officials forced him to cover up.
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. On June 2010, he announced that he would retire from international duty after the 2010 World Cup.[15]
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 15 November 2000 | Turin, Italy | England | 1–0 | Win | Friendly |
Updated to games played 9 September 2011.[16]
| Team | Season | Domestic League |
Domestic Cup |
European Competition1 |
Other Tournaments2 |
Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Perugia | 1995–96 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1996–97 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 8 | 0 | |||
| Total | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 10 | 0 | |||
| Rangers | 1997–98 | 29 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | 40 | 4 | |
| 1998–99 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | – | 11 | 1 | ||
| Total | 34 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 2 | – | 51 | 5 | ||
| Salernitana | 1998–99 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 25 | 0 | ||
| Total | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 25 | 0 | |||
| Milan | 1999–2000 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | 28 | 1 | |
| 2000–01 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | – | 36 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | 32 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | – | 47 | 0 | ||
| 2002–03 | 25 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 | – | 42 | 0 | ||
| 2003–04 | 33 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 2 | |
| 2004–05 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 0 | |
| 2005–06 | 35 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | – | 49 | 3 | ||
| 2006–07 | 30 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 0 | – | 47 | 1 | ||
| 2007–08 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 1 | |
| 2008–09 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | – | 16 | 1 | ||
| 2009–10 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 24 | 0 | ||
| 2010–11 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | 38 | 2 | ||
| 2011–12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 330 | 9 | 26 | 0 | 101 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 463 | 11 | |
| Career Total | 399 | 12 | 36 | 0 | 108 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 549 | 16 | |
1European competitions include the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup
2Other tournaments include the Supercoppa Italiana, Intercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Cup[17]
| Italy national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2000 | 6 | 1 |
| 2001 | 3 | 0 |
| 2002 | 10 | 0 |
| 2003 | 4 | 0 |
| 2004 | 9 | 0 |
| 2005 | 8 | 0 |
| 2006 | 10 | 0 |
| 2007 | 6 | 0 |
| 2008 | 9 | 0 |
| 2009 | 5 | 0 |
| 2010 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 73 | 1 |
He is married to Monica Romano (a Scottish woman of Italian descent), whom he met while playing for Rangers at an exhibition game in Toronto, Canada. The couple dated for a long while before marrying. They have a daughter, Gabriella (born 20 June 2004), and a son, Francesco (born 8 November 2007). Monica is the sister of GMTV's Los Angeles correspondent Carla Romano.
In January 2010, Gattuso opened a fish shop in Gallarate, a city in the province of Varese, where the midfielder had been living for eight years.[18] He claimed that his inspiration for food and dining was a result of sampling British cuisine whilst he played for Rangers.
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