Gattuso Prepares Lazio for Clash Against Milan
Gennaro Gattuso has never been able to treat Milan as just another opponent. Not in his playing days, not when he briefly sat on their bench, and certainly not now as he leads Lazio into a charged evening at the Stadio Olimpico.
The match kicks off at 17.00 UK time (18.00 CEST), but the backdrop is already unusual. The Olimpico holds more red and black than sky blue, with Milan fans outnumbering the home support as the boycott of President Claudio Lotito rumbles on. It feels like an away game for Lazio in their own stadium, and Gattuso knows exactly who is on the other side.
“I built my career at Milan, I had champions by my side, and that made it a lot easier,” he told DAZN Italia, brushing aside the noise around him. “I don’t read the papers, it’s better that way, so I concentrate on my work.”
The work tonight is complicated. Milan arrive as a team that can switch skin mid-game, and Gattuso has drilled his players on that dual nature.
“We analysed Milan,” he said. “At times they can sit back with five in a row, then can hurt you on the counter-attack with their wingers, like Chukwueze with his crosses. At times they are aggressive, at others they sit deeper. We must have courage and show respect to them, but do things our way for a good performance.”
Courage is non‑negotiable for a Lazio side still stung by an early Coppa Italia exit. Gattuso, though, refuses to let that define his group.
“The players need to put passion into the game, as we went out in the first round of the Coppa Italia, but the lads believe in what they are doing,” he insisted. “If there is a little more enthusiasm today, that is thanks to the players.”
Then came the metaphor that only Gattuso could deliver.
Asked about Nuno Tavares, the 26-year-old full-back whose career has drifted between Benfica, Arsenal, Olympique Marseille and now Lazio without ever fully settling, Gattuso reached for something more vivid than a standard assessment.
“I always said that Tavares is worthy of Real Madrid,” he began. “He feels like someone who lost his parents young, received a big inheritance, and in five years it went up in smoke.”
It was a striking image for a player long filed under “potential” rather than “finished article”. Gattuso wasn’t done.
“This is a player who ought to be at Real Madrid. He’s got everything it takes, he has pace, right foot, left foot. He is unusual, but after a match he needs his time to recover, but he’s a good lad, you need to get into his head and make him understand.
“He knows he has talent and could’ve had 10/12 years at Real Madrid with his qualities. You’ve just got to get him to understand.”
Gattuso’s message is clear. Milan may be his past, but the project in front of him is Lazio — and unlocking players like Nuno Tavares will decide whether nights like this become occasions to endure or stages to own.
