Gattuso relishing chance for revenge

AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso is not letting the memories of the most harrowing defeat of his football career bother him days before his chance for revenge.

The former Rangers man makes no secret of the pain the penalty shoot-out defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League two years ago has caused him.

However, next Wednesday, he and his Milan team-mates have the chance for revenge in Athens.

Despite all the media attention on a game touted as a revenge mission for the Italians, Gattuso is just taking it all in his stride.

“I am sleeping fine,” he said. “I cannot deny there is tension, but I cannot wait for the day of the game.

“This club takes defeat with a different class. The players always remain relaxed.”

The 29-year-old admits he has not summoned up “the strength and courage” to watch the full 2005 Champions League final again.

“I refuse to watch that type of game,” he added, while admitting that “Liverpool won it on the field, so they deserved it”.

He added: “They are a team who make you play really hard – they press you and close the gaps and we will have to make sure those gaps remain open and keep the ball moving quickly.”

Although sleep deprivation is not yet an issue, Gattuso did divulge what has been occupying his thoughts regularly.

“(Jerzy) Dudek has been our recurring nightmare for two years,” he joked. “What on earth can I say to him other than congratulations?”

“Actually, I think both teams ought to be congratulated on the way they have reached the final again two years on.”

He also had praise for the man he is set to come face to face with in midfield, England international Steven Gerrard, who in his own autobiography likened Gattuso to a kitten.

“I don’t think I am, and if I was, I would be a really ugly one with a beard like this,” joked ’Rino’.

“I don’t want to respond to provocation. Gerrard is a great player and a champion, and he is showing it this year. I am one who gives it all, gets involved and never gives up.

“It is difficult to forget that evening, but it could give us the hand to give that little bit more.”