Manager Gennaro Gattuso has said goodbye to his players and left Marseille after being sacked following a poor run of form, according to a report.
Italian Gattuso was appointed by the French giants less than five months ago but had overseen an eight-match winless run in all competitions which has left OM ninth in Ligue 1, equidistant between the top five and the final relegation place in the table.
Marseille believed in Gattuso after Thursday’s 2-2 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of the play-offs to reach the Uefa Europa League round of 16, L’Equipe has said.
But a late league defeat at Brest on Sunday, losing 1-0 to opponents who had been reduced to 10 men during the second half, was “so weak” that the former midfileder’s position became “untenable”, the newspaper said.
Read our other football news stories here:
Manchester City v Brentford: preview and prediction
Luton captain Lockyer would ‘love’ to return to football
Wilder bemoans Holgate challenge as Sheffield United thrashed again
Gattuso was reportedly “sad” about the decision when he spoke to his players at the Robert-Louis-Dreyfus Training Centre late on Monday morning.
Speaking after the match, the 2006 World Cup winner with Italy as a player had said his team were at “rock bottom”.
“It’s my responsibility,” he accepted. “There is nothing else to say. The table? The truth is that we’re going to have to start looking behind us.
“We can no longer speak about Europe. We just need to take the necessary points to be safe.”
Marseille results lead to Gattuso sacking
Marseille have not won in Ligue 1 for more than two months and have made their worst start to a calendar year since 1978.
The 1992/93 Champions League winners were somewhat unfortunate to finish second in their Europa League group, conceding the decisive goal at Brighton with two minutes of their group-stage campaign remaining – the same amount of time that was left when Brest scored the only goal of the game against them.
Jean-Louis Gasset, who was dramatically sacked by Ivory Coast after a dismal Africa Cup of Nations group stage with the eventual champions, is said to be ready to take interim charge, with former Paris St-Germain manager Christophe Galtier, who is now at Qatari side Al-Duhail, under consideration as Gattuso’s permanent successor.
Former Cardiff City, Al-Duhail and Nottingham Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi is also being mooted as a candidate.
Gattuso left Spanish club Valencia after eight months in charge in his previous role but had more success during 18 months at Napoli, lifting his first trophy as a manager by winning the 2019/20 Coppa Italia.
Now 46, he also guided AC Milan – with whom he won the Champions League twice as a player – to sixth and fifth-placed finishes in Serie A.
Marseille host Ukrainian club Shakhtar in the second leg of the play-offs on Thurday.
