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EURO 2008: Gattuso kicking himself over ban

/noticias.info/ Gennaro Gattuso may be angry with himself for collecting the second booking that rules him out of Italy's quarter-final against Spain but he is confident his team-mates can take the Azzurri through without him.

'Very annoying'
The AC Milan midfielder was cautioned for a challenge on Claude Makelele during the 2-0 win against France which earned Roberto Donadoni's side their last-eight place – and is suspended for Sunday's Vienna showdown along with Andrea Pirlo. "When I got booked I didn't think about the ban at first because I was completely focused on the match," Gattuso told euro2008.com. "Then, when it was all over and I had time to reflect, I was angry because nobody wants to miss a quarter-final like the one against Spain. It's very annoying, but I'm fully behind my team-mates."

'Proper hiding'
Gattuso's personal dismay did not, however, temper his celebrations after the victory over Les Bleus. The 30-year-old had come in for criticism from sections of the Italian press after the 3-0 opening-day defeat by the Netherlands and was dropped for the subsequent 1-1 draw with Romania. So he felt vindicated by his contribution against France. "When we won, we were all delighted because our [UEFA] European Championship hardly got off to the best of starts," he said. "We were given a proper hiding by the Netherlands but have reacted really well to the setback."

Toni tribute
Another player receiving brickbats rather than bouquets is striker Luca Toni, who missed several chances on Tuesday and has still to break his duck at UEFA EURO 2008™. Yet Gattuso insists his colleague is unaffected by the fuss. "He's coping fine," explained the 60-cap veteran. "It was lucky he didn't score against France when he was challenged by [Eric] Abidal because if he had, they wouldn't have been reduced to ten men. That Toni moment alone was worth two goals because we went 1-0 up from the penalty and had an extra man which was very important."

Barça resemblance
Italy's No8 now expects a tough tie against an attractive Spain side bearing similarities to the FC Barcelona team that beat Milan in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League semi-finals. "Spain's strength is that they are a strong collective," he noted. "The whole side plays as one – they all pass the ball around very well and then suddenly hit you with a long ball to David Villa or Fernando Torres, who are both very dangerous. It's very difficult to steal the ball off them because they are so good in possession. They remind me of the Barcelona team that won the UEFA Champions League two years ago." notas_de_prensa_archivo