The new coach of Olympique de Marseille has already been seen on the bench with an eye patch. The former 2006 world champion player with Italy has lived with an eye disease since the early 2010s.
In crisis with a latent conflict with its influential supporter groups, Olympique de Marseille recorded the arrival of a new coach, Gennaro Gattuso, presented on September 28. A former player from the glorious era of AC Milan, the Italian succeeds Marcelino, who resigned. Known for his sometimes volcanic and aggressive character on the pitch, the Transalpine was forced to reveal a serious health problem from which he has suffered for around ten years. It was during his visit to Naples, in 2020. Gennaro Gattuso was then seen several times with an eyepatch, calling out observers.
Gennaro Gattuso lives with autoimmune eye disease
And for good reason, the now 45-year-old man has to live with an eye disease called myasthenia gravis. It is a pathology of immune origin, resulting from a transmission defect between the nerve and the muscle, and characterized in particular by a fluctuating weakness of the eye muscle. “I’ve been suffering from it for ten years.” declared in 2020 the main interested party in comments relayed by the Spanish newspaper Ace. An illness which therefore began to affect the former Italian international, at the end of his career, he who has retired from the field since 2012. “This is the third time it’s hit me. This time it was strong, but it will pass, the eye will repair itself” he said, then in 2020. “I know my players suffered seeing me like that. I read that I was dead, that I had a month to live. Don’t worry, I’m not going to die. I am alive” Gennaro Gattuso even joked about him.
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Gennaro Gattuso: a new coach at Olympique de Marseille
Known in the world of football for his crazy and sanguine character, Gennaro Gattuso was officially presented as coach of Olympique de Marseille on September 28, after a beating suffered against the hated rival Paris Saint-Germain, during the “clasico” of Ligue 1 (4-0). “It could have ended in 10-0!” declared the new boss of the Marseille locker room during his first press conference. If the Olympian record is not catastrophic in the championship, with only one defeat suffered in six matches, the problem is deeper and lies more at the institutional level The premature elimination in the preliminary round of the Champions League against Panathinaïkós left its mark, as did the draw at home against Toulouse on September 17, a match which ended with black anger from the supporters in the stands of the Vélodrome. The next day, a tough meeting was held between president Pablo Longoria and various associations. An exchange which led to the resignation of Marcelino, then coach in office. The press release pointed out: “a deplorable situation“It is therefore in this delicate context that Gennaro Gattuso will have to find the keys to right the Marseille ship, with a shock against Monaco on Saturday September 30.
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