THE ITALY training-camp in the Austrian town of Mödling was a busy place last week. The players enjoyed a laugh when a (rather attractive) streaker disrupted their training-session, but then shared concern and ultimate disappointment when captain Fabio Cannavaro was ruled out with torn ankle ligaments. Tempers flared on Wednesday when Antonio Cassano challenged Andrea Barzagli late and high but, since then, the mood has been positive.
Since his dangerous tackle, Cassano has tried to show a different side to himself: he pulled down the trousers of a team-mate who was posing for a photo with Christian Vieri's grandfather, who had popped in to say hello to the squad; and then, when he saw Gennaro Gattuso strike the ball from the halfway line into an empty net, he bet him ?500 that he couldn't repeat the trick.
Gattuso missed. "That's right, Rino, Christmas only comes round once a year," chuckled Cassano.
On Monday, Gattuso should be the one laughing: he is likely to start in Italy's midfield against Holland, while Cassano will be on the bench. In any case, Gattuso is not in the side to score from the halfway line. Along with Alberto Aquilani, he will be charged with stopping Holland's attacking threat which, although shorn of Arjen Robben's trickery due to the winger sustaining a groin injury in training still boasts the likes of Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt and Celtic's Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. "My football is based on the fact I know my limits," he said. "When I was younger I used to try things, do a few tricks, but that's how you can put your team in trouble. If your manager asks you to win the ball 20 times in a game, and you only do it five times, what's the point of doing a nutmeg? I do what I know how to do, and that's what I stick to."
Lucky for Gattuso, and for the world champions, then, that he has Andrea Pirlo alongside him. Even though both men had a difficult season as AC Milan finished fifth in Serie A, so missing out on the Champions League that they have both won twice in the last six years, their partnership works for the Azzurri and will be key to Italy's hopes of progressing from Group C, the so-called Group of Death. Gattuso and Pirlo have played together for Italy's under-15s, under-17s, and under-21s before joining up for club and country. "I'm not tired of playing with him, in fact if anything, he's probably tired of playing with me," Gattuso told former Milan team-mate Vikash Dhorasoo in an interview published in French magazine So Foot. "He is a fantastic player."
Gattuso speaks admirably of how Pirlo switched from a playmaker based behind the strikers to a playmaker based in front of the defence. "He was the first to understand how to make that position work." The pair were both in the under-21 team which beat France, then coached by Raymond Domenech, in a qualifier for the 2000 Olympic Games. Pirlo scored the winning goal. Domenech accused the Italians of bribing the referee in that match, an allegation that earned him a touchline ban and contributed to the simmering relations between the two nations which have continued since the 2006 World Cup final. If either team needs anything out of the final group match between the two sides on June 17 in Zurich, it will be an explosive encounter.
"People only remember that France game now because Domenech accused us of having bought the game: what an idiot he is," said Gattuso. "You have to realise that he has created a lot of the rivalry between France and Italy in recent times all on his own. Between the players, everything is fine, we know each other, we respect each other and we have a normal sporting rivalry. And then he comes along and it degenerates. The end result is that everyone behaves badly – when the French came to play at the San Siro for the qualifier, the crowd booed them. I was ashamed. But without Domenech's circus, it wouldn't have happened. Personally he winds me up. He just can't stop talking crap."
As a player, Domenech was a tough-tackling full-back with a hard-man reputation. The French coach has said that Gattuso reminds him of himself as a player, but then he also compared him to French rugby union star Sebastian Chabal (the beard remains Gattuso's trademark, even though, following the World Cup win, Gillette signed him up for an advertising campaign which ended with the midfielder shaving himself in front of thousands of people in his home-town of Corigliano). Gattuso is unconvinced by the comparisons. "I don't know what kind of player Domenech was. Maybe he's a good manager, but I'm not sure of it: France reached the World Cup final but then his players were very good."
Gatusso moved to Rangers as a 19-year-old
Gattuso's future was the talk of the Italian press last month. Bayern Munich had made no secret of their desire to sign him and Gattuso, knowing that fellow Italian Luca Toni is on a ?10m-per-season four-year salary, was tempted. But the 30-year-old ended up staying at AC Milan and has announced his desire to replace Paolo Maldini as captain. "I hope that one day in the future I will wear the captain's armband. It would be an honour to follow in the footsteps of Maldini and Franco Baresi." Gattuso's contract runs out in 2011 and he has not ruled out the prospect of returning to Scotland, where he played for Rangers for a season as a 19-year-old. Like then, Walter Smith is the coach at Ibrox and Gattuso enjoyed his time there. "I don't know whether I will be able to do it (go back to Rangers] but it would be good, as I still regret the manner in which I left the club," he said. "When you leave a team, there is the big door and then there is the back door. I left through the back door and that's a regret I have because the club deserves better."
Gattuso followed Rangers' dramatic quest for the quartet during the season and was impressed with how Smith set up the team. "There is nothing more organised than their system, it's exactly like the Italian catenaccio from 20 years ago," he said. "Rangers put Darcheville up front and everyone else behind. A big line of midfielders and a big line of defenders and nobody moves."
Gattuso watches a lot of French football and claimed that the SPL compares favourably to the level of play in Ligue 1. "Tactically, it's so bad it's unbelievable (in France]. I couldn't believe how bad it was when I saw PSG concede two late goals to Nice. So the Rangers system, I find that pretty well organised, personally."
The loss of Cannavaro may disrupt the organisation in Italy's defence but Gattuso is determined to help Italy become only the second team to follow up a World Cup win with a European title – after France in 2000. "Everyone is optimistic about the Euro, and there's a feeling that we can win it," he said.
"But at the same time I wouldn't say that we are favourites. We have to be careful in this group as there are really good teams in there with us (As well as the French, Italy are up against the Netherlands and Romania in Group C]. But we have worked hard in our preparations, and if we give our all on the pitch – and don't go out there thinking we are world champions – then I think we can do well."
• Italy defender Christian Panucci has said he expects to shrug off a knee problem in time for Italy's opening Euro 2008 Group C game against Netherlands tomorrow. The 35-year-old, expected to be Italy's first-choice right back, tweaked a tendon in his right knee in training on Friday.
"Today it is a bit better even if it is a little swollen. I really think I'll be there," Panucci told a news conference yesterday.
Netherlands' Wigan defender Mario Melchiot, meanwhile, is a doubt for tomorrow's game after suffering a recurrence of a groin injury. The right-back missed training yesterday and a visit to hospital confirmed the injury which hampered him towards the end of the season had returned.
NETHERLANDS v ITALY
ITV1, tomorrow 7.45pm