“Gattuso lost himself,” Joe Jordan told Sky’s Goals on Sunday in 2016. Across Europe, watching fans chortled and reached for their popcorn as the carnage unfolded.
“It was a big game, he was captain of his club, we won the game and he had problems with one or two of the players. He had a problem with the referee. He obviously had a problem with himself. He picked on an old man like me.”
Jordan was coach of Tottenham when they beat AC Milan 1-0 in a Champions League knockout tie in 2011, Peter Crouch poaching the winner at the San Siro after some uncharacteristically sturdy Spurs defending.
Gennaro Gattuso, the guard dog of Milan’s glorious 2000s outfit, was fighting against both his waning powers and Spurs’ control of the game. The World Cup winner threw himself into tackles so agricultural you could almost smell the manure.
Fireworks at the final whistle were inevitable, but nobody quite expected Gattuso to square up to Jordan and grab him by the throat. Scores of players and coaches attempted to separate the pair, but were probably better off leaving the combatants to scrap it out.
But the defining moment of the night was the 59-year-old Jordan taking off his glasses in preparation for battle. There has arguably never been a more Scottish moment in Champions League history.
“He lost his discipline,” Jordan recalled in 2023. “It wasn’t just getting booked, it was the fact he couldn’t play the second game, that was him out. Why he chose me I don’t know. I was stood to the side of Harry Redknapp and he lost it.
“I would never back down, no chance, but I wasn’t going to react. No way. I’m not lilywhite or anything, but I’m not daft.
“I’m pretty disciplined. Even in my days as player, I didn’t get sent off much. I wouldn’t be stupid.
“When the Gattuso thing happened, as a coach I had a responsibility. You can’t do that. You’d lose your job, you lose respect. You can’t put your club in that position.”
Jordan insists that the headbutt didn’t make contact. “No. He was still shouting. They pulled him away.” Probably for the best.
It’s the 10th anniversary of Joe Jordan and Rino Gattuso going toe-to-toe at the San Siro.
Bring ya fuckin dinner, ya wee shite.pic.twitter.com/Rb3rNpgUAM
— A Funny Old Game (@sid_lambert) February 15, 2021
Gattuso’s agent, Claudio Pasqualin, told reporters afterwards: “Jordan, after having continuously heckled him, insulted him with a truly low phrase.
“For one…
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