Rome - Veteran striker Christian Vieri has left Italian club Atalanta, putting an early end to a season marred by injuries and a bad relationship with fans.

The La Gazzetta dello Sport daily reported on Wednesday that Vieri gathered all his belongings before the start of Tuesday's training session at the Serie A side.

His farewell apparently stems from the jeers he received from home fans during a weekend friendly against Swiss side Bellinzona.

The 35-year-old former international last summer rejoined the Bergamo side after previous one-year contracts there in 1995 and 2006.

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Rome - Italy striker Antonio Di Natale won't be available for Udinese in the final part of the season as he recovers from a knee injury suffered at the weekend, the ANSA news agency reported Tuesday.

Di Natale, 31, was stretchered off the pitch Saturday as Italy beat Montenegro 2-0 in a 2010 World Cup qualifier.

He damaged the cruciate ligament in his left knee as he slipped away from the ball on a wet pitch.

Rome - Coach Carlo Ancelotti has dismissed rumours that he could leave AC Milan, saying he is set on remaining at the Serie A giants despite a second straight disappointing season.

"I haven't yet found a good reason to leave," Ancelotti Tuesday told La Gazzetta dello Sport, "but the club must also agree."

The 49-year-old played his last five years with the Devils and took over as coach in 2001, steering them to win one Serie A scudetto, two Champions League titles and one Club World Cup.

Rome  - At least two boats carrying hundreds of African refugees sank off the Libyan coast, with 21 bodies and 23 survivors recovered and hundreds more missing, Italian media reported early Tuesday.

One boat was carrying a reported 257 people and the second had 340 on board.

The search for missing was continuing.

The two boats were launched from near Tripoli in the direction of Italy. The causes of the shipwrecks were not immediately known.