AC Milan sack Paulo Fonseca after just six months

Serie A side AC Milan sacked coach Paulo Fonseca on Monday after only six months in the job after an inconsistent run of form left the club eighth in Italy's top football league.

Milan, who drew 1-1 at home against struggling AS Roma on Sunday, have won only two of their last seven league games.

The 19-time Italian champions sit eight points off the top four with a game in hand, and 14 points behind leaders Atalanta.

"AC Milan announces that Paulo Fonseca has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the men's first team," Milan said in a statement.

Local media reports said former Porto boss Sergio Conceicao was set to take over.

Fonseca was appointed in June to replace Italian Stefano Pioli, who had helped Milan to a single league title in 2022 during his five-year tenure, finishing second and 19 points off champions Inter Milan in his last season.

Expectations were therefore going to be high from the start for former Roma coach Fonseca, who arrived after two seasons at French Ligue 1 side Lille.

But Milan got off to a slow start under the 51-year-old Portuguese, drawing 2-2 against Torino and Lazio either side of a 2-1 loss at promoted Parma.

Fonseca led Milan to their first win of the season mid-September, a 4-0 home victory over Venezia, before beating rivals Inter 2-1.

After a similarly poor start to their Champions League campaign, where they suffered back-to-back defeats by Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen, they embarked on a four-game winning streak, beating champions Real Madrid along the way.

However, Milan have won only seven of their 17 league matches this season.

Fonseca previously won the Portuguese Super Cup with Porto in 2013, the Portuguese Cup with Braga in 2015-16, as well as three consecutive Ukrainian Premier League titles with Shakhtar Donetsk between 2017 and 2019.