AS Roma sack coach Rudi Garcia

Roma have sacked French coach Rudi Garcia after a poor run of form, the Serie A club confirmed on Wednesday.

“AS Roma confirms that Rudi Garcia, and his assistants Frederic Bompard and Claude Fichaux, will cease to manage its first team with immediate effect,” read a statement in English on the club’s website.

“Given recent results… the club have decided to move in a new direction.”

Garcia, 51, won the double in France in 2011 with Lille and became Roma coach in 2013.

His team won their first 10 Serie A matches in 2013-14 and enjoyed two consecutive second-place finishes in Serie A, but Garcia leaves with the capital club fifth in the table, seven points behind leaders Napoli.

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The final straw was last Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to AC Milan, which left Roma with just one win in their last 10 games in all competitions.

Roma president Jim Pallotta said: “On behalf of myself and everyone at AS Roma, I’d like to thank Rudi Garcia for all of his hard work since joining the club.

“We’ve all enjoyed some great moments during his time at Roma but we believe that this is the right time for a change.”

Reports in the Italian media have indicated Garcia’s successor will be Luciano Spalletti and that he has travelled to the United States for a meeting with Pallotta.

Spalletti, 56, coached Roma from 2005 to 2009 and won two Italian Cups before departing for Zenit St Petersburg, with whom he won two Russian titles.