Gennaro Gattuso’s time at Milan as a player was characterised by success, but also some legendary pranks from Andrea Pirlo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and more.
The Napoli coach returns to San Siro for the first time as an opposition coach tomorrow evening and it’s bound to be emotional, as he spent most of his career in this stadium as a player and then tactician.
Although Gattuso has not written his own memoirs, he is a regular in the books of his former teammates, largely for the pranks that were played.
Gennaro Gattuso’s time at Milan as a player was characterised by success, but also some legendary pranks from Andrea Pirlo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and more.
The Napoli coach returns to San Siro for the first time as an opposition coach tomorrow evening and it’s bound to be emotional, as he spent most of his career in this stadium as a player and then tactician.
Although Gattuso has not written his own memoirs, he is a regular in the books of his former teammates, largely for the pranks that were played.
Probably the most famous incident saw Ibrahimovic grow tired of Gattuso’s badgering during a training session, so he lifted the midfield up and deposited him head-down into a bin.
Thiago Silva revealed their Rossoneri teammates were “bent over double with laughter” and Ibrahimovic confirmed the bizarre scene only a few days ago.
Currently the Juventus coach, Pirlo’s book has plenty of anecdotes from his days trying to get a rise out of Gattuso.
They ranged from scaring him in the middle of the night by hiding in a hotel room to using his phone to call director Ariedo Braida and negotiate a new contract.
They all ended the same way, with Gattuso slapping Pirlo on the back of the head repeatedly and muttering barely-understandable obscenities in Calabrese dialect.
The ultimate Gattuso moment occurred during a Milan dinner, when he spotted a slug and bet with Kakha Kaladze that he’d eat it.
Much to everyone’s amazement, Rino swallowed the creature whole.
“It was a bet with Kaladze,” confirmed Gattuso many years later. “Nobody thought I’d actually eat it, but I did it to help us become more of a team.”
Kaladze is now a high-ranking politician in Georgia, but he was at the centre of many Gattuso pranks, including one recounted by Carlo Ancelotti.
The defender warned everyone to completely ignore Gattuso’s birthday on January 9, then the day after, he stood up during lunch and announced: “Lads, there are 364 days to go until Gattuso’s birthday!”
Gattuso spent 13 years at Milan, scoring 11 goals in 468 competitive games, yet there was one moment when he was ready to walk away for Bayern Munich.
Then-CEO Adriano Galliani decided giving him a speech about the importance of the Rossoneri wasn’t going to cut it, so he locked the player in the Milan Museum.
“He told me, this is your home,” confessed Rino. “It was never an issue of money with me, I always had Milan in my heart.”
Now he will face them as an opponent at San Siro for the first time.