Rino Gattuso

Gennaro Ivan Gattuso, known as Rino, was born in Corigliano Calabro, on January 9, 1978. His father had also been a football player, in Serie D.

Source Wikipedia

At 12 he joined the Perugia academy, won the Primavera (U19s) Scudetto twice and then debuted for the first team in 1995. He stayed two more years with the Umbri. In the first he only played 2 league games but the won promotion to Serie A under Walter Novellino and then Giovanni Galeone. In the second he played 8 league games in A first under Galeone and then Nevio Scala but the Biancorossi were relegated.

In 1997 he left Italy and joined Glasgow Rangers in Scotland. In his first season he played 40 total games with 4 goals. The Gers finished 2nd and were also runners- up in the Scottish Cup under Walter Smith. The following season Gattuso started in Glasgow, under Dick Advocaat, but left in October after another 11 games with 1 goal. It was in Glasgow that he met his future wife Monica Romano whose family ran an Italian restaurant there.

In October 1998 Gattuso returned to Italy and played for Salernitana for a season. The Granata were in Serie A but ended up relegated. They started under Delio Rossi and finished with Francesco Oddo. Gattuso played 25 league games. His teammates included former Lazio, Marco Di Vaio (1991-95).

In 1999 Gattuso moved to what would be his main club A.C Milan. He stayed 13 highly successful seasons. The Rossoneri won the Scudetto twice (2004, 2011), a Coppa Italia (2003), the Supercoppa Italiana twice (2004, 2011), the Champions League twice (2003, 2007), the UEFA Super Cup twice (2003, 2007) and a FIFA Club World Cup (2007). He played a total of 468 games with 11 goals. His managers included Alberto Zaccheroni, Mauro Tassotti, Fatih Terim, Carlo Ancelotti (for 8 seasons), Leonardo and Massimiliano Allegri. His teammates included Lazio connections: Valerio Fiori (1986-93), Flavio Roma (1991-93, 1994-95) Beppe Favalli (1992-2004), Alessandro Nesta (1993-2002), José Chamot (1994-98), Beppe Pancaro (1997-2003), Christian Vieri (1998-99), Hernan Crespo (2000-02), Jaap Stam (2001-04), Massimo Oddo (2002-07), Demetrio Albertini (2003-04), Cristian Brocchi (2008-13) and Alessandro Matri (2015-16).

In 2012-13 he left Milan and played one last season with Sion as player-manager in Switzerland. He played 32 games with 1 goal and the Rouge et Blanc finished 6th but Gattuso was sacked in May.

Gattuso has had a long career with the national team starting with a runner up medal at the under 18 European Championship in 1995. He won the under-21 European Championship in 2000 and participated in the Sydney Olympic Games where Italy reached the quarter finals.

He has made 73 appearances with one goal for the Nazionale, winning a World Cup in 2006 but also participating in the 2002 and 2010 world cups.

He then retired but continued as a manager. He started with Palermo in Serie B in 2013 but was sacked in September after 6 league games.

In August 2014 he took charge of OFI Crete in the Greek top flight but resigned in December.

In 2015 he became manager of Pisa in Lega Pro (3rd tier) and won promotion to Serie B. The following year he stayed on but the Nerazzurri were relegated.

In November 2017 he replaced Vincenzo Montella at Milan after the 14th fixture. He led the Rossoneri to a 6th place (EL) and a Coppa Italia final (lost 0-4 to Juventus) while in the Europa League they reached the last 16 (Arsenal 1-5 on aggregate). He stayed the following season and finished 5th (then excluded from Europe over financial fair play issues).

In December 2019 he replaced Carlo Ancelotti at Napoli from the 16th fixture onwards. The Partenopei finished 7th (EL) and won the Coppa Italia (Juventus on penalties). Napoli reached the last 16 of Champions League (Barcelona 2-4 on aggregate). He remained at Napoli in 2020-21 and finished 5th (EL). They lost the Supercoppa final (Juventus 0-2).

In 2022 he became manager of Valencia but parted ways by mutual consent in January.

In late September 2023 he took over at Marseilles but was then replaced himself in mid-February.

In 2024-25 he was manager of Hajduk Split in Croatia and finished 3rd.

On June 15, 2025 he was somewhat surprisingly named the Italy manager after the sacking of Luciano Spalletti. Gattuso now has the difficult job of trying to qualify for the 2026 World Cup via the playoffs in March. If he fails it will be Italy's third consecutive absence from a tournament they have won four times.

As a player Gattuso was a defensive midfielder. He based everything on his energy, physical resistance, character and tackling abilities. He was a master of regaining possession and had good leadership qualities, often making him captain of his clubs. He was nicknamed "Ringhio" (Growl/Snarl) for his gritty and dogged style of play.

Sources

Wikipedia