Coach Gattuso leaves AC Milan after missing Champions League

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AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso has confirmed to leave the club on Tuesday, two days after his team narrowly missed out on qualifying for next season's Champions League to extend their absence from the competition to six seasons.

The 41-year-old, a combative former midfielder who spent 13 seasons of his playing career at the club, had left with two years to run on his contract.

Gattuso played for the club between 1999 and 2012, winning both the Champions League and the Serie A title twice.

"AC Milan announces Gennaro Gattuso will leave his role as the club's first team manager by mutual agreement with immediate effect," said the statement.

AC Milan team celebrate after their side's third goal during the Serie A match between Spal and AC Milan in Ferrara, Italy, May 26, 2019. /VCG Photo

The club's sporting director, former Brazil international Leonardo Araujo, had also resigned after less than a year in the job.

Gattuso led Milan to sixth place in Serie A last season and the Coppa Italia final, where they lost 4-0 to Juventus. This season they were beaten by Lazio in the Coppa Italia semi-finals and were knocked out of the Europa League in the group stage.

They finished fifth in Serie A, one point and one place outside the top four who qualified for the Champions League.

Failure to qualify for the Champions League is expected to cost the club at least 50 million euros next season in revenue they would have received for participation and television rights.

Italian media reports said Gattuso and Leonardo's decisions were in response to spending curbs imposed by the side for the summer transfer window.

Faced with mounting debts and threatened with UEFA sanctions for breaking financial regulations, AC Milan are adopting spending curbs and seeking to boost their coffers by buying young, unproven talents who they hope to sell later for a profit, according to several reports.

(With input from AFP and Reuters)