Gennaro Gattuso is one of Italian soccer’s all-time greats and he just turned 46 years old today. The midfielder was known for his AC Milan days, where he partnered up with some of the best soccer players in a long period of dominance.
He was also known for being a very angry man at times, often creating some ruckus with his teammates or his opponents. He also had a brave side to him in that aspect, not hesitating to fight for his teammates. However, he also had a funny side to him, thanks to information from one of his teammates.
Pirlo revealed Gennaro Gattuso ate slug for €10,000 bet
Andrea Pirlo once revealed an interesting story about Gennaro Gattuso. The two players were great midfielders and shared the pitch at AC Milan between 2001 and 2011. They won a lot of Serie A trophies together and two Champions League titles as well. They were also teammates on the Italian national team and won the 2006 World Cup trophy.
While talking about Juventus’ All or Nothing documentary series while at the club as a manager, Pirlo revealed that Gattuso once took up a very brave dare before a crucial semi-final game against Manchester United in 2007.
Pirlo revealed that he, along with others, dared Gattuso to eat a slug in the dressing room and promised him €10,000 if he did so. He said, “Once we made a bet… you know the snails, the ones without their shells, so big? We said, ‘Come on Rino, if you eat it we will give you 10 thousand euros, we collect them and then you give them to the intern workers.’ He took the slug, he sent it down, we didn’t give a s***. He wanted to kill us all.”
Gattuso also confirmed the story earlier in his career and said he did it for the four fitness coaches working at the club during that time.
Gattuso’s career at AC Milan
Gennaro Gattuso began his career for Perugia, and after a short stint at Rangers, he returned to Italy for Salernitana. He then joined AC Milan in 1999, which would be the start of an illustrious career. He quickly established himself as a starter and even impressed the fans with a world-class display against Inter Milan striker Ronaldo Nazario, who was widely feared at the time.
He was a hard-working midfielder on the pitch, and manager Carlo Ancelotti got the best use of him alongside the more creative Andrea Pirlo. He made 335 appearances for the club and won two Serie A trophies and two UCL trophies as well, along with many others.
He would leave the club in 2012, when his contract expired, as his vision became worse that year. He would retire the following year after a one-year stint with FC Sion.
Gennaro Gattuso later managed AC Milan between 2017 and 2019 and is now the manager of French club Olympique Marseille.
