Gennaro Gattuso
Gennaro Gattuso has revealed he took the bizarre decision to eat a live snail during his playing days in 2010 in a bid to relieve tension among his Milan team-mates.
Andrea Pirlo revealed that the former Rangers midfielder had performed the bizarre stunt before their Champions League last-16 clash with Manchester United.
Asked about the incident, Gattuso admitted it had indeed happened, but insisted he had taken the measures to relieve the tensions ahead of a crucial match – not that it worked, with Milan going out 7-2 on aggregate.
‘I’ve done worse things than eating a snail alive,’ Gattuso told reporters ahead of the Coppa Italia final. ‘The point is, it was not about the snail anyway.
‘I’m saying this because my point is that in that particular moment there was need to do something to break the tension.
‘Given that I have no problems doing anything and we were just few hours before the Champions League semi-final against Manchester United and there was a massive pressure on us.’
Gattuso is now managing the Rossoneri and will lead them into the Coppa Italia Final against Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday evening.
While it will be their biggest game of the season, he is likely to go about more conventional ways of relieving the tension this time around.