Maurizio Sarri sacked by Juventus

Sarri, 61, was brought in last summer to replace Max Allegri, who left to take some time away from football.

Sarri was able to keep up the Juventus tradition of winning Serie A, leading the club to their ninth title in a row, but like so many before him he fell short in Europe.

Juventus were dumped out of the Champions League last-16 by Lyon on Friday evening with club president Andrea Agnelli saying they would take a few days to "evaluate" their options.

However, the Turin club have now announced that Sarri has been relieved of his duties.

"Juventus Football Club announces that Maurizio Sarri has been relieved of his post as coach of the First Team," the statement read.

"The club would like to thank the coach for having written a new page in Juventus' history with the victory of the ninth-consecutive championship, the culmination of a personal journey that led him to climb all the divisions of Italian football."

Former Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane is being linked to his old club. Zidane's Real Madrid side were knocked out of the Champions League as well on Friday night but after the match Zidane said he will stay in Spain until it's taken out of his hands.

“I am here. I am the Real Madrid coach unless something happens.” The Frenchman said after the defeat to Manchester City.

Mauricio Pochettino, who has been out of work since being sacked by Tottenham Hotspur in the autumn, is also being mentioned as a possible option.

Aside from those two reports are also saying that the club will consider Lazio boss Simone Inzaghi, Italian national team manager Roberto Mancini and the club's former midfielder Andrea Pirlo, who was recently hired as the team's U-23 coach.

Eurosport Italy's Davide Bighiani believes it is "really difficult to say if it’s the right decision, because just after one year it seems a little bit strange from a club like Juventus. Does this means that they were not completely sure about their decision from the beginning? Could be…"

In terms of where it went wrong aside from the Champions League failure Bighiani says "Juventus passing from Allegri to Sarri should have played better, but they didn’t. They won the Championship (9 in a row) but it was not enough, as Andrea Agnelli already made clear yesterday evening. “Champions League used to be a dream, now it’s a goal”

He also points out that "Simone Inzaghi is the first name at the moment, even if they also talk about Pochettino and Zidane. Inzaghi was in the race also at the time Sarri was appointed last year: it will be difficult but not impossible to take him from Lazio."