OM coach Gennaro Gattuso remembered on Friday the “battles” fought as a player against Patrick Vieira, whom he described as a “man-mountain” and whom he will meet again on Saturday against him on the Strasbourg bench.
“I have no memory of Vieira, only the big hits I took in the legs,” joked the Italian, when asked about the upcoming reunion between these two great midfielders of the 1990s and 2000s.
“He was a man-mountain and I was half of him. Plus, he had a special technique for such a size. It was always battles, but like that of David against Goliath… He was a tough but loyal player, we could only respect him,” added Gattuso.
“When he had the ball, he covered it. You thought he was slow but he was an octopus. And he had a winning mentality. I always found it on my way. I said to myself, come on, again tonight… . I was 1.74m tall and finding myself against this mountain, mentally I was already dead. I had my weapons, but it was hard,” he added.
Gattuso and Vieira clashed on numerous occasions when the current Marseille coach wore the AC Milan jersey and Vieira those of Juventus Turin or Inter Milan. They also challenged each other in the selection, notably during the final of the 2006 World Cup, ultimately won by Italy.
“When it came out, I was happy. I finally said to myself, he was hurt… When he was replaced (by Alou Diarra, Editor’s note), we regained strength, it was good news for us,” Gattuso said.