[Warchant]

MILAN (AP) - AC Milan has issued an ultimatum for Carlo Ancelotti if he wants to remain the club's coach - finish at least third in the Serie A and guarantee a return to the Champions League.

The announcement follows a week in which Milan lost 2-1 to Sampdoria and was eliminated from the UEFA Cup by Werder Bremen.

Milan, which flew out Tuesday for a midweek friendly in Doha, Qatar, is third in the Serie A with 48 points. Inter Milan leads with 60 points, followed by Juventus with 53.

"Carlo Ancelotti will stay if we finish third," Milan chairman Adriano Galliani said on Gazzetta dello Sport's Web site.

The top three Serie A teams qualify directly to the Champions League, while the fourth-place finisher must play a qualifying round.

Three clubs - Fiorentina (46 points), Genoa (45), and AS Roma (44) - are right behind Milan.

"We're having some trouble right now, it's true, but we have a lot of injuries and we're not 100 percent," Ancelotti said in Doha, according to Milan's Web site.

"As far as my future goes, clearly if Milan doesn't reach its goal of third place something could change, also for me. But I'm convinced that we're going to finish third and therefore there won't be any problem."

[dst]

Players who have payed their whole career at Milan deserve respect while the others are just players. We have been too sentimental with deadwood players(dodo, neverson, favalli etc) who have been given excellent contracts even though they have not deserved them. We are now paying the price for this sentimentality crap.

What thepatriotsareus said:

I agree with I Rossoneri, being sentimental with players like Maldini, Costacurta etc is fine because they have been soldiers through the years, being sentimental with Emerson and Favalli is not okay. I have no problem with Dida staying but not a 60k a week wage

This post has been edited by dst: Mar 5 2009, 10:28 AM