The Daily Mail reported Gattuso's emotional comments.
‘After all, my life would be meaningless from that point on. I would not have the courage to look anyone in the eye. I say that from the heart ‘In my life, I have never sat down with anyone to fix games, nor have I ever thought to, as I wouldn’t even know where to start..I don’t even play five-a-side football with my friends because I can’t stand losing. This matter is absurd and unbelievable. I don’t know what they want from me. I don’t know what match-fixing is. I am angry and offended. I do not want to have this stain on my career and my character.’
One of the four men arrested in the case, Francesco Bazzini, alleged to be the link between Serie A players and foreign bookmakers, was revealed to have texted Gattuso 13 times. However, according to James Horncastle, Gattuso never once responded to any of the texts.
"The case of Gattuso is the one that has grabbed the headlines. If you look at the fine print and the details about this, one of the people who was arrested last night basically texted Gattuso 13 times. Gattuso never once replied and the prosecutors want to understand what, if any, relationship he had with this guy who has been implicated."
Gattuso himself has stressed this point.
‘The phone records show Bazzani sent me 13 text messages. They will, therefore, also show I never replied to any of them.
This man knows half of Serie A, he came to the Milanello gates like many hundreds of others.
He was a bookmaker in Bologna, but I never talked about fixing games.
