I bombed Rino Gattuso out of Rangers and I’d love to shut him up by knocking his team out the World Cup
One ex Gers boss did not see eye-to-eye with the former midfielder during their year together at Ibrox
09:45, 03 Dec 2025
Dick Advocaat admits he would love the chance to renew his feud with Rino Gattuso at next summer’s World Cup – with the Curacao boss dreaming of facing Italy in North America.
The veteran former Rangers boss will create history by becoming the oldest manager ever to appear at the finals at the age of 78, having guided the CONCAF nation to the world’s most prestigious tournament for the first time in their history. Advocaat was absent from the goalless draw against Jamaica that sealed their World Cup place after rushing back to his native Netherlands to attend to his ill wife but will be present in Washington for Friday’s group stage draw.
And the ex PSV Eindhoven and Zenit St Petersburg coach concedes shutting Gattuso up would be sweet. The former tough-tackling AC Milan hero was brought to Ibrox by Walter Smith in 1997 but was sold to Salernitana a year later after falling out with Advocaat.
Gattuso is gunning to lead Italy to their first World Cup since 2014, with the Azurri requiring progression through the play-offs after finishing as runners’ up to Norway in their qualification section.
The talkative Italian has bemoaned the play-off system facing European nations, stating: “We won six games in a row in the qualifiers and are still in the play-offs.
“Other countries around the world play a few games and qualify – the system needs to change.”
But Advocaat simply isn’t having any of his excuses. He said: “The team I want to play at the World Cup are Italy if they qualify.
Dick Advocaat(Image: Lyndsay Radnedge/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
“I’d love to come up against Rino Gattuso. All his talk and excuses about not qualifying… We are absolutely not afraid of playing anyone at the Finals. We are a really annoying team to play against. We may not look like much, but we are difficult to beat. If we played Brazil, we would probably lose, but not by much. We have a fighting spirit and that’s the beauty of it. We are very well organised.”
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