By Chris Wright

As is plainly visible from the photo above, Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo are the best of friends and, as best friends tend to do, they really rather enjoy making one another’s lives a total misery.

Between jobs having been canned by Palermo (can you believe it?) a month or so ago, Gattuso appeared on Italian chat show Che Tempo Che Fa recently and was asked about his friendship with Pirlo and he replied with a magnificent little anecdote about the time Pirlo landed him in hot water with a couple of AC Milan’s highest-ranking execs after Gattuso had the misfortune of accidentally leaving his mobile phone behind after training at Milanello one fateful morning.

Rino told host Fabio Fazio:

“We did the whole chain from youth to the national team together. Pirlo, you see him with the face of an angel but he is a son of a bitch, always makes jokes, always breaks the boxes, does not stand still!

“One day I was eating at Milanello. I had the bright idea to leave my phone behind on the table. He sent a text message to (Milan vice-president, Adriano) Galliani and (general manager, Ariedo) Braida offering them my sister from my phone…

And Pirlo was all like…

“U mad brah?”

As if it wasn’t possible to love the man any more…