On Sunday night, Gennaro Gattuso will face off against his old club AC Milan as manager of Napoli.
It was back in 2017 that Rino returned to Milan as coach of the Primavera, only to be promoted to the First Team following the sacking of Vincenzo Montella, before he eventually left in May 2019.
According to what il Corriere dello Sport reports (via MilanLive), Massimiliano Mirabelli certainly played an important role in Gattuso’s coaching career as the former Milan sporting director was the one who campaigned to bring him back and then for him to get the first team job full time.
Rino then found himself working under Paolo Maldini and Leonardo as the club changed hands, and it is worth remembering that he did not have an idyllic relationship with the latter when the Brazilian was the Rossoneri coach in 2009-10.
The paper recalls an incident on 17 March 2019 when Milan lost 3-2 against Inter. Leonardo – accompanied by Maldini – went to Gattuso to tell him: “Your Milan plays badly”.
Gattuso resumed his work to try and achieve a top four finish but in the end Milan missed out by a point, and both Gattuso and Leonardo left the club when the season was over.
Gattuso didn’t even ask for the money that he was owed for the extra year of his contract, instead he only asked for his staff members to be paid and signed the contract resolution without any kind of problem.
“I don’t have the courage to make money from Milan,” said Rino, a gesture appreciated by a club where he is still held in very high regard.
