Gennaro Gattuso has dismissed reports that he offered his resignation after AC Milan's capitulation at the hands of Verona last weekend.
After picking up his first win since replacing Vincenzo Montella against Bologna, Gattuso cut a frustrated figure against Verona as the Rossoneri slumped to a 3-0 Serie A defeat.
To make matters worse for the Milan coach it came four days after his side had beaten Verona by the same scoreline in the Coppa d'Italia – highlighting the inconsistencies that have dogged them all season.
Some reports suggested Gattuso had offered to walk away after their latest defeat but he insisted that was never the case.
"It was reported that I offered my resignation, but I never even thought about that," he told a news conference.
Rino Gattuso has announced the 23-man squad to take on Atalanta at San Siro on Saturday at 6 pm CET 👉🏻 https://t.co/jZZg4epoZ8
— AC Milan (@acmilan) December 22, 2017
Mister Gattuso ha diramato la lista dei 23 rossoneri per #MilanAtalanta https://t.co/CwdY0Q1HRy #ForzaMilan #weareacmilan pic.twitter.com/qvtSOgcogU
"I was meeting with the club at the HQ to discuss the training retreat.
"This is a huge opportunity and I knew when I accepted there would be difficulties. I knew there would be hard work and 400 million fans to make happy."
Milan return to league action against Atalanta on Saturday and Gattuso hopes the fans back his players throughout the 90 minutes, no matter what the scoreline.
He added: "We hope the fans don’t protest during the game.
"If we suck, then they can jeer us at the final whistle."