Report: Gattuso led the charge to postpone the Milan Derby
In the report, not everyone at the San Siro was on board with the decision to cancel the match. Club manager Yonghong Li had traveled from China to witness it. In fact, upon learning of Astori’s death, Gattuso immediately canceled training and sent the players home before they could even sit down for a planned lunch with Mr. Li.
In the end, the decision wasn’t particularly difficult to make. In addition to Gattuso pushing for it’s postponement, players Ignazio Abate, Luca Antonelli, and Nikola Kalinic (a teammate of Astori’s last season) all pushed for the game to be rescheduled.
Indeed, canceling one of the most highly anticipated matches of the 2017/18 campaign was not always a given. However, it was really the only acceptable way to allow those affected to properly grieve in their own ways.