All About Sports: Rino Gattuso

Gennaro Ivan "Rino" Gattuso (born 9 January 1978, in Corigliano Calabro, Italy) 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. 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 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 2004He 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.

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[6] 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 grabbed Tottenham coach (and former Milan player) Joe Jordan by the throat during an incident on the sideline. After losing the game, video footage shows Gattuso again confronting Jordan and head-butted him before being restrained and dragged back 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 and but also said Jordan provoked him throughout the game but refused to say what his comments were. 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".[10] Gattuso was then suspended for five UEFA Champions League games. One of the five games was for yellow card accumulation, the other four were for the attacks on Jordan. 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.