Gennaro Gattuso Reveals Why He Ate a Live Snail Before Crucial Champions League Encounter
Former AC Milan midfielder and current Rossoneri manager Gennaro Gattuso has admitted to reporters that he ate a live snail before the 2010 Champions League round-of-16 tie against Manchester United in order to relieve tension amongst the team.
Gattuso, whose snail-munching antics were described in former teammate Andrea Pirlo's autobiography, revealed that he dined on the gastropod in order to break the ice among the AC Milan squad ahead of their crucial fixture.
"I've done worse things than eating a snail alive," Gattuso told reporters on Tuesday ahead of the Coppa Italia final against Juventus (via FourFourTwo).
"The point is, it was not about the snail anyway. I'm saying this because my point is that in that particular moment there was need to do something to break the tension."
"Given that I have no problems doing anything and we were just few hours before the Champions League game against Manchester United and there was a massive pressure on us."
However, witnessing Gattuso's odd snack may have done more harm than good for Milan, who (perhaps traumatised) went on to lose the tie 7-2 on aggregate.
However, the Calabria-born boss' stint as the Milan manager since his appointment earlier this season has not failed to entertain, with the 2006 World Cup winner threatening to knock out one of his own players' teeth and conducting a public search for striker Patrick Cutrone's next girlfriend.
