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发帖数: 6358 | 1 Milan are facing a Champions League exit, but the home defeat to Spurs could
have been even worse as John D Taylor explains
Rino Gattuso is a lucky man. Lucky to stay on the field despite persistent
fouling against Tottenham. Lucky not to receive a straight red for pushing
Peter Crouch in the chest. Lucky not to receive the same punishment for two
touchline bust-ups with Joe Jordan. And lucky that the Spurs Coach didn’t
take up his offer of a dust-up behind the bike sheds afterwards to settle
their differences.
Had that happened, the Milan captain would have discovered why Jordan earned
the fearsome reputation – and the nickname Lo Squalo – while plying his
trade in Italy in the 1980s.
Gattuso, who had a spell at Glasgow Rangers when Joe was assistant manager
to Liam Brady at Celtic, should have known whom he was tangling with. Yet he
still persisted in his suicide mission.
His disgraceful attempts to fire up his apathetic teammates backfired
disastrously at San Siro. Not only did the Serie A leaders lose at home to a
team only fourth in the Premier League, they were out-thought, out-gunned
– and probably knocked out of the Champions League. And Gattuso, already
the recipient of a yellow card on the night, is out of the last 16 return at
White Hart Lane.
Shame that, because he could have learned a little more about the man he
head-butted and – surprisingly – lived to tell the tale. Jordan, in a
superb career that puts Gattuso to shame, was a star attacker with Leeds,
Manchester United and Milan. The only Scot to score in three successive
World Cups, he was a fearsome sight in full flow as many flattened defenders
will testify.
As Harry Redknapp wryly remarked: “Gattuso obviously hadn’t done his
homework. He could have picked a fight with someone other than Joe.” Graeme
Souness, another hard man on the field, emphasised that point on TV by
saying: “Gattuso is well past his best. I just wish he would spend five
minutes in a room on his own with Joe.”
Even conceding 30 years, I know who my money would have been on had the
Spurs Coach lifted his fists in reply! Those who saw the game on Sky or
watched the clips replayed on You Tube will have been amazed at Jordan’s
restraint. That’s why I say Gattuso was a lucky man.
Even luckier was teammate Mathieu Flamini. He should have got his marching
orders for an excruciating tackle that got Vedran Corluka stretchered off.
That’s when Gattuso started losing it, demanding that the Spurs defender
should be hauled off the pitch so the game could restart even though it was
clear the Croatian was badly hurt.
Neither Flamini nor Gattuso did the reputation of the Italian game any good
with their antics. Let’s hope their weak, after-match apologies don’t save
them from further punishment. |
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