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September 22, 2011

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Gasperini sacked as Inter flops again

Source: Agencies | September 22, 2011, Thursday | Print Edition

GIAN Piero Gasperini has been sacked as coach of Inter Milan after three disappointing months in charge of the Serie A club.

The club announced Gasperini's departure yesterday, a day after Inter's humiliating 1-3 loss to newly promoted Novara. That defeat came less than a week after the club lost 0-1 to Turkish side Trabzonspor in the Champions League.

Inter thanked Gasperini for his work and said it was sorry things didn't work out. Daniele Bernazzani and Giuseppe Baresi were named temporary coaches; there was no immediate word on a full time successor.

Heading into a meeting to decide Gasperini's fate, club president Massimo Moratti made clear he wasn't pleased with Inter's performance and that there was little other choice but to let Gasperini go. "His situation seems very difficult, from all points of view," Moratti said. Speaking of the Novara loss, he added: "When you lose like this, in the end there was nothing to like."

Inter, which won a treble in 2010, is winless in five matches in all competitions this season, and has only one point from three league games.

Against Novara, which was making its home debut after a 55-year absence from the top division, Inter made a series of defensive errors and its midfielders were unable to keep up with their opponents' pace.

Local media was already speculating that former Chelsea and Roma coach Claudio Ranieri could be called in as a replacement for Gasperini; or that Moratti could hand the squad over to former Inter player Luis Figo, who currently has an executive role with the club.

Inter has a busy schedule in the coming days, playing at Bologna on Saturday then traveling to Russia three days later to face CSKA Moscow in the Champions League, with a big match against Napoli the following weekend.

Third coach

Gasperini led Genoa up from the second division in 2007, then qualified the club for the Europa League with a fifth-place finish in 2009, but was fired in November after gaining only 11 points in the first 10 matches of last season.

Gasperini was Inter's third coach since Jose Mourinho left for Real Madrid after winning Serie A, the Italian Cup and the Champions League in 2010. Rafa Benitez struggled during the first half of last season and was replaced by Leonardo, who then left for an executive position at Paris Saint-Germain in June.

Inter opened the season with a 1-2 loss to AC Milan in the Italian Super Cup last month, then was beaten 3-4 by Palermo in its Serie A opener, conceding four goals for the first time in a league match in more than seven years. Its only decent performance came in a 0-0 draw at home with Roma last weekend.
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