Gattuso Praises Lazio's Character After Comeback Victory

Lazio had every excuse to feel sorry for themselves. A Coppa Italia exit to Mantova in August had stung. Jesper Karlstrom’s second-half strike for Udinese reopened the wound. The Stadio Olimpico tensed.

Instead, Gennaro Gattuso’s side bit back.

Davide Frattesi dragged Lazio level, Albert Gudmundsson completed the turnaround, and a 2-1 comeback win turned a nervy evening into a statement about character and change under their new coach.

“The mentality and the desire,” Gattuso told Sky Sport, words carried by TuttoMercatoWeb. That was what pleased him most. Not the scoreline, but the reaction.

He knows exactly what he has walked into. Lazio spent last season drilled in a pure 4-3-3 under a “master”, as he put it. Gattuso has ripped up the blueprint.

“We dismantled everything compared to last year, when there was a master of the 4-3-3, and we are trying to do something different,” he said. “The lads are doing things well. What we are trying to propose is not easy, but the team is alive.”

Alive, and already learning to suffer.

The response to Karlstrom’s opener mattered as much as the goals themselves. Lazio, still raw from that early Coppa Italia disappointment against Mantova on August 16, could have sagged. Instead they pushed, pressed, and turned a deficit into three points that felt bigger than a routine league win.

On the touchline that night against Mantova, Gattuso had cut a restless figure at the Olimpico. New job, new ideas, an early cup failure – the scrutiny arrived fast. This victory over Udinese offered something different: proof that the dressing room is following him into unfamiliar territory.

Credit upstairs

Gattuso did not keep the praise only for those on the pitch. He turned it towards the directors’ box as well.

“With great difficulty, we made a transfer market that we didn’t think we could make,” he admitted. The summer had looked complicated, resources tight, options limited. Yet the coach insisted Lazio came out of it stronger than expected.

“I have to thank both him and Fabiani; they deserve enormous credit for the players who arrived,” he added, singling out president Claudio Lotito and sporting director Angelo Fabiani.

The message was clear: this rebuild is a joint project. New coach, new ideas, new faces – and, as Udinese just discovered, a new edge.

Milan on the horizon

Now comes the game Gattuso cannot treat as just another fixture, no matter how hard he tries.

Lazio’s next league assignment is Milan, the club where he spent 12 years in midfield, the club that shaped his career and his identity. The emotional weight is obvious, and he did nothing to hide it.

“As a child, I remember the parade after the Steaua game with my father,” he said, evoking that famous night in Milan’s history. “For me, it was always an honour and a dream that lasted 12 years.”

The affection is permanent. The job has changed.

“All the affection and joy cannot be forgotten, but today I have another job and on Sunday I hope to take points from the team of my heart.”

Lazio now travel into that reunion with a comeback win behind them, a new system slowly taking root, and a coach who has already shown he is willing to tear down the past to build something of his own. Milan know his heart. On Sunday, they will find out exactly how his Lazio intend to play.