European champions Porto have fired new coach Luigi Del Neri. Media reports in Portugal said the Italian had been dismissed for repeated absences.
Del Neri and Porto officials agreed to terminate his contract "for personal reasons", the club said in a brief statement on its website. No replacement was named.
Del Neri, formerly the coach at Italy's Serie A club Chievo Verona, was hired in June to replace Jose Mourinho, who left to become manager at west London club Chelsea.
Porto officials were irritated by the amount of time Del Neri spent away from the club, according to the private TSF radio station and the A Bolanewspaper's website.
He took two days off this week and was not yesterday's training session alleging that he had missed flight connections while returning to Portugal.
Players and officials also were unhappy with his handling of the team, A Bola and TSF said.
Porto won the Champions League final in May with a 3-0 victory over Monaco and are also the Portuguese champions.