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| The ex-Genoa boss suffered a disastrous 3-1 defeat last Tuesday by newly-promoted Novara [GALLO/GETTY] |
As expected Inter Milan on Wednesday sacked Gian Piero Gasperini from his coaching role following the previous day's 3-1 Serie A defeat at newly-promoted Novara.
The club has been put in the temporary charge of assistants Giuseppe Baresi and Daniele Bernazzani.
Gasperini lasted only three months in the job, taking charge of three league games and one match in the Champions League, losing three and drawing one.
Former Chelsea, Juventus and AS Roma coach Claudio Ranieri was widely expected to replace him, with Italian media saying he was involved in negotiations with the club and would take charge of training on Thursday.
However, there was no immediate confirmation from Inter that they were talking to Ranieri.
Time's up
Earlier in the day Inter president Massimo Moratti had hinted that Gasperini's time was up.
Speaking to journalists as he arrived at his offices in Milan, Moratti was asked if Gasperini would be staying but replied: "I don't think so.
"It's a difficult situation, especially for him. I haven't thought about a replacement yet.
"I don't think it's a problem related to his relationship with the players. His is a difficult situation from every point of view. We'll see during the course of the day.
"I didn't like anything I saw last night."
The 53-year-old Gasperini was not even at training on Wednesday morning with Baresi and Bernazzani taking the session instead.
The coach was instead in talks with Inter technical director Marco Branca and sports director Piero Ausilio, according to press reports.
And that resulted in his sacking.
Losing streak
Inter failed to win a single game under Gasperini, who had courted controversy by favouring a back three rather than the traditional back four.
They lost away to Palermo (4-3) and Novara in the league while also being beaten at home by Trabzonspor (1-0) in the Champions League.
They were also held to a 0-0 draw at home to Roma in Serie A and lost the Italian Supercup to bitter rivals AC Milan in August.
Having been born just outside Turin, Gasperini began his playing career in the Juventus youth team, although he never made a senior league appearance, managing only a handful of cup outings.
He spent the majority of his career playing in the lower divisions before rejoining Juve as a youth team coach in 1994.
After nine years coaching various youth teams at the club he moved to the head coach role at Crotone, leading them to promotion to the Italian Serie B.
In 2006 in joined Genoa, leading taking them up to Serie A in his first season and then also leading them to their highest finish in 19 years in 2009 when they came fifth.
He was, however, sacked last November after a poor start to the season and remained out of work until Inter called him to replace Leonardo in June.
