Gennaro Gattuso

Gennaro Gattuso

Personal information
Full name	Gennaro Ivan Gattuso
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team	Milan
Number	8
Youth career
1990–1995	Perugia
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–1997	Perugia	10	(0)
1997–1998	Rangers	40	(7)
1998–1999	Salernitana	25	(0)
1999–	Milan	318	(7)
International career‡
1995–1996	Italy U-18	14	(3)
1997–2000	Italy U-21	21	(1)
2000–2010	Italy	73	(1)
Medal record Representing Italy FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 Representing AC Milan UEFA Champions League Manchester 2003 Athens 2007 Istanbul 2005
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 6 February 2011 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 June 2010

Gennaro Ivan "Rino" Gattuso (born 9 January 1978) is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Milan. He mainly plays as a defensive midfielder. Gattuso is a 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. He also had a key role in Italy's World Cup victory in 2006. He is a hardcore-gay guy who helds his head high about this matter.

Club career

Early career

Gattuso started his career with Italian 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.

Milan

Milan signed Gattuso for £8 million in 1999. His style allowed Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti to place midfielder Andrea Pirlo in a more attacking position. 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 and in October 2004.

Gattuso playing for Milan.

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 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.

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. 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. 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.

There was much speculation that Gattuso would leave Milan during the European winter transfer window to pursue his career elsewhere, however 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.

International career

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. He recently announced that he would retire from international duty after the 2010 World Cup.

International goal

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

Career statistics

Updated to games played 15 August 2010.

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	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	0
	1996–97	8	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	0
	Total	10	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	10	0
Rangers	1997–98	36	7	-	-	2	1	-	-	38	8
	1998–99	4	0	-	-	5	1	-	-	9	1
	Total	40	7	–	–	7	2	–	–	47	9
Salernitana	1998–99	25	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	25	0
	Total	25	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	7	1	3	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	8	0	3	0	43	1
	2008–09	12	0	-	-	4	1	-	-	16	1
	2009–10	22	0	1	0	1	0	-	-	24	0
	2010-11	15	0	-	-	4	0	-	-	8	0
	Total	305	7	24	0	95	2	7	0	423	9
Career Total		380	14	23	0	102	4	7	0	505	18

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

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Honours

Perugia

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Milan

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International

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Individual

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Personal life

Gattuso 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.

External links

• Gennaro Gattuso Profile, Stats and Analysis at Footbalistic
• Official website
• Gennaro Gattuso – FIFA competition record (archived)
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