Gattuso opens up on his struggles with an eye disease

Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso gave an emotional interview where he opened up on his battles with an auto-immune disease.

Gennaro Gattuso finally returned to giving post-match interviews after his side’s stalemate with Torino.

Napoli have seen a recent slump in their Serie A form with two losses and a draw from their last three outings.

If for a last-gasp goal from Insigne in stoppage time, it would have been three losses on the bounce for Gattuso and company.

After the game, the Italian manager gave an emotional interview that saw him reveal his struggles with an eye problem.

Gattuso had skipped the last few post-match interviews because he has been struggling with Ocular Myasthenia.

This is an auto-immune disease that, among other symptoms, causes the muscles that control the eyes and eyelids to weaken.

Gattuso has since worn an eye patch and his right eyelid was visibly drooping during his most recent interview.

Gattuso has being upgrading his eye patch wear with each match @en_sscnapoli patch built into his glasses this week in a snazzy matching black, on another note injuries aside they played well despite scoreline #SerieA pic.twitter.com/MAmZoElIKs
— G Hofman (@gghofman) December 20, 2020

“We arrived really wiped out to this game, missing so many players, and even Chucky Lozano performed a miracle to play 30 minutes,” he said to Sky Sport.

“Therefore, we hang on to this point and consider it precious. I admit I’ve not been myself for the last 12 days either. I want to make an appeal to all those, especially kids, who look in the mirror and see something that looks odd or not quite right: life is beautiful. Embrace it all.”

“The lads suffered too seeing me like this, I know that, but I’m alive. I’ve had myasthenia for 10 years, this is the third time it has flared up this badly, but it’ll pass and my eye will return to normal.”

“It’s not just that it looks bad, this condition makes you feel really exhausted, plus seeing double 24 hours a day really takes it out of you. Only a crazy person like me would keep going.”

Gattuso continued: “It’s not just that it looks bad, this condition makes you feel really exhausted, plus seeing double 24 hours a day really takes it out of you. Only a crazy person like me would keep going.”

“However, this is my life and there are worse things. I know some out there already assume I’ve got a month left to live, but I can assure you, it’s fine. When I eventually die, I want to go where I lived, on a football pitch.”