AC Milan Sacks Head Coach Massimiliano Allegri After Failed Champions League Qualification

Milan. Italian football club AC Milan has sacked head coach Massimiliano Allegri. The club's high command declared this season 'a complete failure' after the team failed to qualify for the Champions League, leading to his dismissal. 

After suffering a 2-1 defeat against Cagliari in the final match of Serie A, Milan slipped from third to fifth place in the standings. This means Milan has been deprived of playing in the prestigious club competition, the Champions League, for the second consecutive year. 

For the upcoming season, Italy will be represented in the Champions League by Inter Milan, Napoli, Roma, and Como for the first time in history, while AC Milan and Juventus will have to settle for the Europa League.

RedBird Capital, the American investment group that acquired AC Milan in 2022, stated in a press release that the team was in the top two positions for most of the season and appeared to be a strong contender for the title. 

The statement read, 'The performance in the final stages of the competition was completely inconsistent compared to the preceding games, and the disappointing loss in the final match clearly proved this season a failure. Now is the time for changes in football operations and extensive restructuring.'

With this announcement from the ownership, not only coach Allegri but also the club's chief executive Giorgio Furlani, sporting director Igli Tare, and technical director Geoffrey Moncada have left the club. The 58-year-old Allegri had returned to Milan for his second stint in May last year, replacing Sergio Conceicao. 

Previously, during his tenure from 2010 to 2014, he led the club to the league title in the 2010-11 season and the Italian Super Cup in the subsequent season. While rivals Inter Milan won the title for the second time in three seasons, AC Milan suffered defeats in 7 of their last 13 matches of the campaign.