Mancini to leave Inter Milan

Mar 11, 2008 - 11:52 PM By PA SportsTicker

Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini announced he plans to leave the club at the end of the season - and insists the decision was made before his side crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Mancini made his intentions public after Fernando Torres' goal saw the Serie A leaders go down 1-0 to Liverpool at the San Siro to seal a 3-0 aggregate defeat.

The 43-year-old, who joined Inter in 2004 and led the club to back-to-back Serie A titles in 2006 and 2007, announced his news at the post-match press conference before a question had been asked.

"The next two-and-a-half months will be my last as the coach of the squad," he said.

"I have already told the players and it is only natural now to announce it to everybody. It's a decision that I had already made and it is not due to tonight's defeat."

Mancini also insisted his decision has nothing to do with a reported rift between himself and club president Massimo Moratti, and claimed there was no ill-feeling between the pair.

"The president knows (I'm leaving), it isn't true that we had a fight," he said. "There is absolutely no problem between me and the president, I wish him all the best."

Midfielder Esteban Cambiasso expressed his shock at the announcement, refusing to believe that his coach's decision was final.