Gattuso Dedicates Napoli Triumph Over Inter To Late Sister
Gennaro Gattuso has dedicated Napoli’s qualification for the Coppa Italia final to his late sister, Francesca, who died earlier this month at the age of 37 after a short illness.
Francesca previously worked as a secretary at Gattuso’s former club AC Milan.
Napoli advanced to the final, where they will meet Juventus on Wednesday, after seeing off Inter Milan 2-1 on aggregate.
The first leg ended 1-0 in favour of Napoli at the San Siro back in February, but on Saturday, Dries Mertens cancelled out Christian Eriksen’s early opener for Antonio Conte’s men at the Stadio San Paolo to book a date with Juventus.
Gattuso praised his players’ performance after the game but also made time to remember his departed sibling.
"I dedicate this result to my sister and my family," he said, via the club's website.
"The guys were extraordinary for the dedication they put on the pitch. I thank them because they played for me and they were close.
"I have a team that has great quality, but there was [a will] to suffer because not all the mechanisms went in the right direction. After the first very naive goal conceded it was not easy to go back up.
"We showed character and I have to say that in terms of intensity we started from where we left off. We went through a very hard period, it wasn't even easy to train for the health emergency."
"After Mertens' goal we had a sort of liberation and we expressed ourselves better," he added.
"The boys are giving everything both in terms of commitment and availability. Now we will play the final with our weapons. If we continue on this path we can take great satisfaction from ourselves."
