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Inter Milan sacks coach Lippi
MILAN (Reuters) -- Inter Milan coach Marcello Lippi was sacked Tuesday after a meeting with club president Massimo Moratti. Lippi had called his team "spoilt children" and suggested they no longer had faith in him after a 2-1 defeat by Reggina in the opening game of the Serie A season on Sunday. A statement on Inter's Web site said the relationship between club and coach had been brought to an end but said Inter "recognized the total professional commitment" shown by Lippi. Inter vice-president Peppino Prisco told ANSA news agency: "I'm sorry for Lippi." But he added: "It was on the cards because of the lack of results and the team's lack of any system of play. And if you don't win and you don't give the team a system of play..." The outcome was widely expected after the former Juventus coach's outburst on Sunday. Lippi even said that if he were president of Inter, he would sack the coach. "They just played like spoilt children who think that they are great players and the victories will just arrive. That is not fair to those who pay them nor to those who go to watch them," he said. "Today, if I was the president, I would dismiss the coach and line the players up against a wall and give them all a kick up the backside," Lippi added. Before they met on Tuesday, Moratti had already said that Lippi's words had created a "mad situation" and had "poured fuel on the fire" at the troubled club. Lippi joined Inter in July, 1999 after a successful spell at Juventus where he won three Serie A titles and the European Cup in 1996. He resigned from Juve in February 1999 after a run of poor results. Inter, who last won the league in 1989, finished fourth in Serie A last season and were losing finalists in the Italian Cup. But despite spending an estimated $85 million on new players over the summer, Inter still failed to qualify for the Champions League -- losing 1-0 on aggregate to Sweden's Helsingborg in the qualifying round.
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