Zdenek Zeman has been sacked as coach of Roma a day after the Serie A side suffered a humiliating 4-2 home reverse to Cagliari.
The defeat was Roma’s ninth defeat in 23 games, the most of any side in the top half of the table, and led 500 fans to protest outside the Stadio Olimpico late on Friday.
General manager Franco Baldini phoned club president James Pallotta in the United States overnight to discuss the situation and after three hours of crisis talks on Saturday Zeman was fired.
Aurelio Andreazzoli, 59, will take over as caretaker as Roma look for a permanent successor to Zeman. Baldini said:
“The head coach is not the only one to blame, but we have made our decision and put Andreazzoli in charge of the team.”
Zeman has been on the hot seat for a while, despite guiding Roma to the Coppa Italia semi-finals where they lead Inter 2-1 after the first leg.
Just last week, Roma Sporting Director Walter Sabatini said after Roma’s draw with Bologna:
“We are going through a period which we are not exploiting to the full. We have to reconsider certain factors. I think what came out from the match involved something different.”
Media outlets in Italy report that Roma approached former France manager Laurent Blanc last week about becoming manager but he turned down them down.