Rino Gattuso reveals Rangers Christmas nightmare still haunts him as Ibrox stress is put to use at Marseille

Rino Gattuso has revealed he's hated Christmas ever since his time as a Rangers player because the stress of buying presents impacted his performances.

The former Ibrox star is now in charge of Marseille and played their last game before a festive break this week by drawing 1-1 at Montpellier. Gattuso was brought to Ibrox by the late Walter Smith in 1997, before he was shipped out to Salernitana a year later in a £4 million deal because Dick Advocaat didn't rate him.

From there, he went on to move to AC Milan and won two Champions Leagues, two Serie A titles and a 2006 World Cup win with his country. And he's revealed why his experiences of playing matches at this time from when he was at Rangers had a lasting impression on him. He said: "If I think about the Christmas period, my head hurts. My first few years as a player when I was at Rangers my wife used to always talk to me about organising Christmas and about what presents to buy for everyone.

"Despite me being careful with my diet, only drinking water and sleeping well, the other side of it drove me crazy at that time of year. And it completely stressed me out on the pitch.

"In the end, I had to tell her to take care of everything. So this year I told the players they had to focus. I warned them to forget about holidays and what gifts to buy your mum, dad and grandmother. Because as I found out, it reduces your concentration levels on the pitch."