MILAN, Oct 9: AC Milan on Tuesday sacked coach Marco Giampaolo after just seven games in charge as the former European giants slipped to 13th place in Serie A, with ex-Inter Milan coach Stefano Pioli poised to take over.
Giampaolo replaced former Milan hero Gennaro Gattuso, who resigned after missing out on Champions League football last season with a fifth-place finish.
But after a run of four defeats that includes a 2-0 derby defeat to Inter the seven-time European champions are just three points above the relegation zone.
�The club is grateful to Marco for the work carried out and wishes him all the best to come in his professional career,� the team said in a statement.
The 52-year-old struggled from the outset at cash-strapped Milan, who surrendered their Europa League berth this season after breaching UEFA�s financial fair play rules.
Saturday�s 2-1 victory at Genoa wasn�t enough to save the former Sampdoria boss, who had been the seventh coach to sit on the Milan bench in the past five years.
Pioli is reported to be set to take over the ailing club, who won the last of their 18 Italian league titles in 2011.
The Gazzetta Dello Sport said Pioli was ready to sign a two-year contract on Wednesday morning worth 1.5 million euros ($1.64 million).
�Tomorrow we�ll talk,� Pioli told journalists as he arrived in Milan for negotiations on Tuesday.
Pioli has spent his entire 16-year coaching career in Italy with clubs including Bologna, Lazio, Inter and Fiorentina, but has never won any trophies as a coach. The #PioliOut hashtag quickly trended worldwide on Twitter thanks to the angry reaction from Milan fans.
The 53-year-old guided Lazio to the Champions League in 2015 and was coach of Fiorentina when captain Davide Astori died in his sleep ahead of a match last year. � AFP
Hamilton can land KO blow at Japanese Grand Prix
Tokyo, Oct 9: Lewis Hamilton may not be able to clinch a sixth world championship at the typhoon-threatened Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, but knows he can knock all but team-mate Valtteri Bottas out of the title race.
There are only 104 points to be won after Japan and a victory for Hamilton to follow his triumph in Russia will leave only Finland�s Bottas able to pass the Englishman.
However, a wild weekend of weather is promised at Suzuka which could mean disrupted practice, chaotic qualifying and a wet race punctuated by safety cars.
Japan�s weather bureau said on Wednesday that Super Typhoon Hagibis was projected to hit Tokyo, some 300 kilometres (185 miles) east of Suzuka, on Saturday.
�The Honshu main islands will see heavy rains from as early as Friday, and the peak of the bad weather will be on Saturday and Sunday,� Japan Meteorological Agency official Yoshinori Muira told AFP.
French driver Jules Bianchi crashed in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix after a typhoon brought wet conditions and reduced visibility to the Suzuka circuit.
He died of his injuries the following year, becoming the first and only driver killed as a result of a Formula One racing accident since 1994.
Ferrari�s resurgence since the summer break rattled Mercedes and Hamilton as the Italian marque sped to a hat-trick of Grands Prix wins.
But the Maranello outfit�s failure to turn Charles Leclerc�s pole position into another win at Sochi gave Mercedes a surprise one-two. � AFP
