Paolo Zanetti has penned a farewell to Empoli and their fans after this morning's dismissal.

Zanetti has been dismissed after Sunday's 7-0 thrashing by AS Roma.

As published by PianetaEmpoli.it, the coach wrote: "Empoli welcomed me as a footballer as a boy, they welcomed me years after I found myself as a man, giving me the opportunity to coach in Serie A.

"From day one I gave everything I had, all of myself for the cause, constantly trying to grow and improve and working as hard as I could to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. It will remain the great ride of last year, a salvation achieved all together with full merit in a very difficult championship like Serie A.

"Before thanking you, I feel obliged to apologize to all the people who follow us for the fool on Sunday in Rome. I would also like to thank all those who have been close to me, all the fans who have always followed us and have never let us lack their support and closeness; I also thank all those people who worked with me, who experienced many joys and unfortunately also some pain with me.

"I know very well that these moments also exist in football and I will treasure this experience for my future path, taking with me the good moments and also the negative ones."