Gennaro Gattuso

Infobox Football biography
playername = Gennaro Gattuso


fullname = Gennaro Ivan Gattuso
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1978|1|9
cityofbirth = Corigliano Calabro, Calabria
countryofbirth = Italy
height = height|m=1.77
nickname = ("Growl")
position = Midfielder
currentclub = Milan
clubnumber = 8
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1994–1997
1997–1998
1998–1999
1999–
clubs = Perugia
Rangers
Salernitana
Milan
caps(goals) = 010 0(0)
040 0(7)
025 0(0)
268 0(7)
nationalyears = 1997–2000
2000–
nationalteam = Italy U-21
Italy
nationalcaps(goals) = 021 0(1)
063 0(1)
pcupdate = October 5 2008
ntupdate = October 11 2008

Gennaro Ivan "Rino" Gattuso, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI, [ [http://www.fifa.com/en/organisation/president/index/0,4095,129202,00.html?articleid=129202 FIFA.com] ] [ [http://www.ascotsportal.com/news/newsdtl.aspx?PID=89262e2c-3beb-4080-bd5e-949f498ecbcc&CID=4ca0fc99-f8bf-4260-b379-ee5bca3085eb&NID=e47baa4d-fe98-4feb-a0ff-a007b8e62e87 AscotSportal.com] ] (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 [da icon [http://www.dr.dk/Sporten/Fodbold/Champions+League/2005/12/06/232955.htm Poulsen: Gattuso opførte sig som et barn] , published by Danmarks Radio, December 6, 2005] 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 [cite news|url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=83197.html|title=Inzaghi staying at San Siro|date=2003-07-21|accessdate=2008-05-20|publisher=UEFA.com] and in October 2004. [cite news|url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=251295.html|title=Gattuso makes Milan commitment|date=2004-10-28|accessdate=2008-05-20|publisher=UEFA.com]

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. [cite news|url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=503216.html|title=Gattuso prolongs San Siro stay|date=2007-02-01|accessdate=2008-05-20|publisher=UEFA.com]

On 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 F.C to regain fitness during the Serie A winter break whilst the whole team was visiting his wife in Scotland over Christmas. [ [http://www.rangers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,5~1200275,00.html Rino's Return | Rangers | News | News | News ] ]

On May 19 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. [cite news|url=http://fourfourtwo.com/news/italy/9537/default.aspx|title= Gattuso backtracks on decision to leave Milan|date=2008-05-19|accessdate=2008-05-20|publisher=FourFourTwo]

On August 15 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 wifes 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

The current high profile Gattuso now enjoys is due to his time at Milan and his participation as part of the Italian national squad. He 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.

Honors

A.C. Milan

*Serie A
**Winner: 2004
**Runner-up: 2005

*Coppa Italia: 2003

*Supercoppa Italiana: 2004

*UEFA Champions League
**Winner: 2003, 2007
**Runner-up: 2005

*UEFA Super Cup: 2003, 2007

*FIFA Club World Cup: 2007

*Intercontinental Cup (runner-up): 2003

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 May 11, 2008. [ [http://www.acmilan.com/LM_Actor.aspx?idSquadra=3&idStagione=14&idPersona=52&name=Gattuso%20Gennaro%20Ivan AC Milan profile] ] 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

International goal

"Updated to games played November 17, 2007." [ [http://www.figc.it/nazionali/DettaglioConvocato?codiceConvocato=1591 FIGC data] ]

References

External links

*FIFA player|177845
* [http://gennarogattuso.sport.tiscali.it Official website]
*
* [http://www.footballdatabase.com/site/players/index.php?dumpPlayer=44 Footballdatabase profile and stats]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472520/ "Eccezzziunale... veramente 2"] - The Internet Movie Database