27th March, 2012
Inter Milan sacked coach Claudio Ranieri late on Monday after a string of poor results, which has left the Serie A giants struggling to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
The former Chelsea and Valencia handler, who has guided the side that won the treble including the Champions League in 2010 to just one win in their last 10 league games, has been replaced by youth team coach Andrea Stramaccioni.
The final straw for Inter president Massimo Moratti and the board came with the 2-0 defeat at Juventus on Sunday leaving them eighth in Serie A, 10 points off the Champions League positions, and having failed to score in seven of their last 10 league matches.
The end for Ranieri came only hours after Moratti had said he thought the coach would last until the end of the season.
It’s a huge risk from the president as Stramaccioni, 36, has no first team experience whereas Ranieri has also coached the likes of Juventus, Roma and Atletico Madrid during a long career.
Italian press seemed to have a sniff of what was coming and asked Stramaccioni earlier in the day what he would feel about taking over the reins.
“If Moratti calls, I always respond, in general,” he had said.
“He’s my president, I always respond to his calls, but no-one has called.”