Gennaro Gattuso Biography

He's one of the few footballers today that don't necessarily bring entertainment on the pitch, but he's the type of footballer that every coach desires in his team. For this reason, we're going to follow his career in this Gattuso Biography article.

Gennaro Gattuso Biography - Perugia - Genaro Gattuso's start in soccer was definitely not a blast, when compared to other players that were first team regulars at their clubs at ages 17 or 18. In 1994 he was offered his first professional soccer contract for Perugia (at age 16) but although spending three seasons with the club, he barely got the chance to play, being benched for the entirety of the match for the most time.

He did get to dip his feet in Serie A football in 10 matches (in 3 seasons) but mostly as a "last 10 minutes" substitute. Feeling the need to play regularly, he quickly agreed to a transfer when Celtic Rangers offered him a contract in the summer of 1997, when he was only 19.

Gennaro Gattuso Biography – Rangers - Under the guidance of Rangers' manager Walter Smith, who admired the young Gattuso for his ambition on the pitch, he started playing regularly in the Scottish league, which is one of the hardest around. It is said that it's during his only season at Glasgow Rangers that Gennaro Ivan Gattuso formed his warrior spirit that made him so renowned and loved today.

However, when his former mentor Walter Smith was replaced by Dick Advocaat, the new Rangers coach immediately benched the footballer, Gattuso feeling the need to move once again, in order to play regularly. It was Serie A team Salernitana that made him the first offer and he was quick to accept.

Gennaro Gattuso Biography – Salernitana - Coming back to Serie A, even for smaller team like Salernitana, truly gave Gennaro Ivan Gattuso the chance to show off what he had learnt at Celtic. His warrior spirit and hard tackles, coped with a better tactical knowledge that he received at Salernitana meant a first team spot for the footballer, Gattuso quickly drawing the eyes of every scout in the Italian league.

His great performances meant that he would only spend a single season at Salernitana, being bought in 1999 by bigwigs AC Milan, for a sum of approximately 14 million euros.

Gennaro Gattuso Biography – AC Milan - His move to Milan proved to be a great success and the club will bring most of the highlights in Gennaro Ivan Gattuso's career. Although he's still in his football prime, Gattuso already has a string of won trophies and awards, both with the club and his national team.

It's hard not to love Gennaro Gattuso for the heart with which he plays soccer and although he often crosses the limits (yellow and red cards being a specialty of the house) he is indispensable for both AC Milan and Italy's squad.

In an ironical pun, the AC Milan fans nicknamed him "Genarinho" after Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho; the irony being that Gennaro Gattuso is exactly the opposite of Ronaldinho, lacking technique but having a huge effort threshold and ability to dish out some fierce tackles. This nicknamed was chiseled even further by the fans, which reduced it to simply "Rinho", giving it a new meaning, "Ringhio" in Italian meaning"the Snarler".

Gennaro Gattuso Biography – Awards - Being in his 7th season with Ac Milan so far, Gennaro Ivan Gattuso managed to play in all the three UEFA Champions League finals that AC Milan disputed in the last decade, winning the ones in 2002/2003 and 2006/2007.

However, the lost 2005/2006 UEFA Champions League final was a tremendous shock for Gattuso, who suffered for months on after the match and even wanted to leave Milan at one point, due to the mark that defeat left on him and the team.

In that final, disputed against Liverpool, Milan looked the certain favorites and managed to get a comfortable 3 – 0 lead at half-time, the Italian side already having one hand on the trophy at that point.

However, in a magical comeback, Liverpool managed to equalize in the second half, scoring 3 goals in only 6 minutes and then winning on penalties, in what the press regarded as one of the most beautiful matches of all times.

His sweet revenge came 2 years later, when Milan met Liverpool again in the Champions League final on 2006/2007. Milan as you know won 2 -1 with massive help from Gennaro Gattuso, that was one of the best players on the field that night.