[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."

[MizNelson]

Benitez has made liverpool a contender in the champions league every season, yet he is still called a failure and a one ambition man with a one ambition club. Yet the great carlo is a super genius and all might because of what? getting 2x cl and 1 serie a? Damn right i expect him to do that and more, or why is he coaching us.

You're contradicting yourself big time here. You praise Benitez for making Liverpool a regular Champions League contender, then you lambaste Ancelotti for doing the exact same thing.

Carlo has two CLs and one league title. That's one more of each than Benitez, who continues to stick around Anfield only because of the fluke six minutes in the '05 CL final. Meanwhile, for all the griping about our Scudetto drought, Liverpool haven't won the Premier League in 19 seasons. Shouldn't Benitez take some of the blame for that as well?

Lastly, no one has ever called Carlo a "super genius." Please don't pull these grandiose statements from out of nowhere unless you can back them up.