River Plate have sacked coach Angel Cappa following a run of seven matches without a victory in the Apertura championship.
Cappa’s departure came a day after a 1-0 defeat by newly-promoted All Boys, which put the coach under pressure ahead of River Plate’s next game against Boca Juniors set for November 16.
Cappa said he did not resign, but was fired by president Daniel Passarella.
“No way did I resign,” he told reporters. “I wasn’t thinking about this. I was thinking of the clasico, a very important game for River.”
The Buenos Aires club is facing the possibility of being relegated to Argentina’s second division.
Cappa is the third River Plate coach to leave the club in just over a year. Cappa took over from Leonardo Astrada in April. Astrada replaced Nestor Gorosito, who resigned 13 months ago.
Relegation in Argentina is decided on results over three seasons, and the last three have been poor. River’s last title was the Clausura in 2008.
“I was in the process of looking for a team that would play how I liked,” Cappa said. “I won 50 per cent of the points, which is not bad for the chaos that has surrounded River.”
The club said in a statement that youth coach Juan Jose Lopez would oversee training on Tuesday as a short-term replacement. Former Independiente coach Americo Gallego and Marcelo Bielsa, who quit his job as Chile coach last week, have been touted as possible long-term replacements.
