Early career Gattuso was born in
Corigliano Calabro, Italy. He started his career with
Umbrian side
Perugia, but transferred in July 1997, at the age of 19, to the Scottish team
Rangers. The move was controversial; Perugia, unsuccessfully, accused Rangers of signing Gattuso illegally and took their case to
FIFA. Gattuso revealed that he initially refused to join Rangers but accepted the move after his father persuaded him to move. Gattuso made his debut for Rangers, coming on as an 81st-minute substitute, in a 3–1 win against
Hearts in the opening game of the season. He scored his first goal for the club against
Strasbourg in the first round of the
UEFA Cup, as Rangers failed to overcome the deficit, losing 4–2 on aggregate. Gattuso received a red card for the first time in his professional career over a second bookable offence, in a 5–2 win against Hearts on 20 December 1997. He later scored two more goals for the club, including a brace against Hearts on 25 April 1998. This led him to being described as one of the club's "unsung heroes" by its chairman
David Murray, who felt that Gattuso had "surpassed expectations by playing so many games aged 19". In the
Scottish Cup final, Gattuso played the whole game, as Rangers lost 2–1 against Hearts. At the end of the 1997–98 season, he had made forty appearances and scoring four times in all competitions.
Walter Smith, who brought Gattuso to
Glasgow, left the club in 1998. Smith's successor,
Dick Advocaat, did not favour Gattuso and played him out-of-position as a right-back. Despite this, he was able to score in the UEFA Cup 4–2 win against
Beitar Jerusalem. The Italian was sold in October 1998 to then-recently promoted
Serie A club
Salernitana for £4 million. Prior to joining Salernitana, Gattuso turned down a move to
Juventus.
AC Milan Gattuso was bought by
AC Milan for
€8 million from Salernitana in the summer of 1999. He made his debut with the club on 15 September 1999, in a 0–0 away draw with
Chelsea in the
UEFA Champions League; he soon broke into the starting line-up that season, also playing his first
Milan-derby match on 24 October 1999, in which he stood out and immediately endeared himself with the Milan fans for the maturity and tenacity he demonstrated when facing
Inter striker
Ronaldo, who was widely regarded as the best player in the world at the time. During his time at the club, Gattuso's work-rate and versatility as a ball-winner later allowed Milan manager
Carlo Ancelotti to place midfield playmaker
Andrea Pirlo alongside him in a more creative, attacking position, while Gattuso supported him in a deeper role, as a defensive midfielder; this midfield partnership was pivotal to Milan's domestic and international successes under Ancelotti, which included the
Coppa Italia, the
UEFA Champions League and the
UEFA Super Cup in 2003, as well as the
Serie A title and the
Supercoppa Italiana in 2004. Gattuso signed a contract extension with Milan in June 2003 and in October 2004. During this period, Gattuso also reached the
2005 UEFA Champions League final with Milan, only to be defeated by
Liverpool on penalties, after initially leading 3–0 at half-time. Gattuso played his 300th game for the club in a goalless Champions League draw against
Lille on 26 September 2006, and he extended his current deal with Milan until 2011 on 1 February 2007. On 23 May 2007, Gattuso won the Champions League for the second time in his career when Milan beat Liverpool 2–1 in the
final. After winning the
FIFA Club World Cup, on 27 December 2007, Gattuso trained with his former club
Rangers to regain fitness during the Serie A winter break whilst his wife was visiting family in Scotland over Christmas. The following December, Gattuso suffered a torn
Anterior cruciate ligament early on in the 1–0 league win against
Catania. Despite the injury, however, Gattuso played the entire 90 minutes before being diagnosed by the club doctors after the match. He underwent surgery to repair the damage on 19 December 2008 in
Antwerp, Belgium. He was expected to miss up to six months of action but managed to return to the Milan bench on 10 May against
Juventus, a month ahead of schedule. On 22 August 2009, he made his 400th appearance with Milan in the opening match of the
2009–10 Serie A season against
Siena, wearing the
captain's armband. The
2010–11 season with Milan was one of Gattuso's best seasons of his career, and saw him end a three-year goal drought with a left-footed strike from outside the box, which proved to be the decisive goal in a 1–0 victory over Juventus on 5 March 2011. Gattuso later celebrated another goal in a 4–1 victory against
Cagliari with a long-distance header that beat the goalkeeper, who was off his line. Gattuso celebrated Milan's 18th
Scudetto victory after a scoreless draw against
Roma on 7 May. Gattuso had been experiencing vision problems in early September 2011, a few days before the season kicked off. On 9 September 2011, Gattuso crashed into teammate
Alessandro Nesta whilst playing against
Lazio in Milan's opening Serie A game of the
2011–12 season. He was substituted off directly afterward in the 20th minute and diagnosed with a left
sixth cranial nerve palsy, resulting in
double vision, an injury that could have ended his football career. He later revealed that he had seen teammate
Zlatan Ibrahimović in four different positions during the opening stages of the match, and was unable to see Nesta, resulting in the pair's clash.
Sion On 15 June 2012, after being released by Milan, Gattuso joined
Swiss club
Sion. On 25 February 2013, Gattuso was named as the new manager of Sion after manager
Víctor Muñoz was demoted to a scouting role after a 4–0 defeat by
Thun in the
Swiss Super League.
Controversies In a
UEFA Champions League group stage match against
Ajax in September 2003, he was sent off during second-half injury time after slapping Ajax striker
Zlatan Ibrahimović in the face with the back of his hand. His temper caused him further problems when in December 2005, at the final whistle of Milan's 3–2 defeat of
Schalke 04 in the Champions League, Gattuso was seen seeking out and taunting Schalke's midfielder
Christian Poulsen as a reaction to Poulsen's fierce marking of
Kaká in the first leg. Gattuso insisted, however, that the press exaggerated the significance of the incident. On 15 February 2011, during Milan's Champions League game against
Tottenham Hotspur, Gattuso pushed Tottenham coach
Joe Jordan away by the throat during an incident on the sideline. Jordan was seen outside his allowed technical area exchanging words with Gattuso, in relation to the relatively physical game that had been played. After the game, after Gattuso had shaken hands with the Tottenham players, video footage showed him confronting Jordan and head-butting him after another exchange of words, before being restrained by both teammates and opponents. "I lost control. There is no excuse for what I did. I take my responsibilities for that", said the 33-year-old Gattuso, but he also said Jordan provoked him throughout the game but refused to say what his comments were. Newspapers, however, reported Joe Jordan had been using
racist, offensive calls for much of the game by calling Gattuso a "fucking Italian bastard" from the sidelines. The following day, it was announced that
UEFA was looking at additional sanctions or punishment for Gattuso's actions against Jordan the previous day and had been charged with "gross unsporting conduct." Gattuso was then suspended for five Champions League matches – one for yellow card accumulation, the other four for the incident with Jordan. ==International career==