Rossoneri Round-up for 10 May: Gattuso gets the dreaded ‘vote of confidence’ from president

Gennaro Gattuso has had a rocky time this season in charge of Milan, and there have been reports for months that he is only a match or two away from being replaced. With the end of the season coming up, there have been even more reports out that Milan are looking to go in a new direction at the manager position.

However, that may not be completely true. Milan President Paolo Scaroni said yesterday:

I saw positive signs from the team against Bologna, as they fought hard and remained in the game despite the difficulties.

Despite everything, we are still within three points of the Champions League zone, so I am feeling confident ahead of these final rounds of the season.

There will be tests that are not easy, but the whole club is working hard to ensure we get the maximum possible results.

We have full confidence in the Coach and our sporting directors, including in the light of the way they dealt with recent critical issues.

Does this mean that Gattuso has nothing to worry about? Of course not. History is littered with hundreds of managers who had the “faith” of their boards right before being sacked, it’s literally a cliché to say that when a manager gets a “vote of confidence” that they are going to be sacked.

So does Gattuso get sacked at the end of the season, with or without Champions League football? Time will tell.

On to the links.

AC Milan and Italian Football Links

Should AS Roma make a push for Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini? [Chiesa di Totti]

Reports indicate that Antonio Conte is closing in on a deal to be manager at Inter Milan. [Serpents of Madonnina]

Eusebio Di Francesco is reportedly a candidate to take over as Milan boss. [AC Milan Offside]

World Football Links

In Mexico, Club Necaxa grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first leg of their quarterfinal Liguilla match up against high-flying Monterrey. [FMF State of Mind]

Arsenal beat Valencia 4-2 to advance to the Europa League final. [The Short Fuse]

Chelsea beat Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties to set up another all-England European final. [BBC.com]

Chelsea and Arsenal will only receive 6,000 tickets each for the Europa League final. [The Independent]

Arsenal’s Armenia international captain Henrikh Mkhitaryan faces a thorny issue as Armenia does not have diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan, where the Europa League final is being played. [BBC.com]