CARNAGO, Italy -- New AC Milan coach Cristian Brocchi has said he is "not afraid" of the task of managing the Serie A giants.
On Tuesday, Brocchi was confirmed as the replacement for fired coach Sinisa Mihajlovic until the end of the season.
In sixth place, Milan are without a win in their past five matches and in danger of failing to qualify for Europe for a third straight campaign.
"There is a risk. But you've got to have the humility to understand that if things go poorly, it's going to go the way things have gone before," Brocchi said at his presentation on Wednesday.
Having coached Milan's youth squad, this is the first senior managing position for Brocchi, a former Milan player.
"I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity with the utmost desire and humility," Brocchi said. "I'm not afraid."
Mihajlovic joined Milan from Sampdoria in June and steered the team to its first Italian Cup final in 13 years. The Rossoneri meet Juventus for the title May 21.
"Sinisa did a good job and obtained good results but we thought that we needed something different now," Milan vice president Adriano Galliani said. "We all hope that Brocchi remains Milan's coach next season, too. Otherwise he'll return to the youth team. He'll stay at Milan."
Galliani rejected speculation that he differed with Milan president Silvio Berlusconi over Mihajlovic's firing.
"For more than 30 years, Berlusconi and I have been discussing and debating with each other," Galliani said. "We each express our own opinion, we make a common decision and then we all go in the same direction. The club is one."
Brocchi becomes Milan's fifth coach in little more than two years. It is the 40-year-old Italian's first senior coaching role.
Milan last promoted a youth team coach two years ago. Filippo Inzaghi lasted a year, then was fired and replaced by Mihajlovic.
Brocchi, who also played for Inter, won the Champions League twice as well as the Italian league and cup in a seven-year spell at Milan from 2001-08.
The last Milan coach to spend more than a year in the job was Massimiliano Allegri, who was fired in January 2014. Allegri went on to take over at Juventus that July, steering the Bianconeri to the Italian league and cup double and to the Champions League final in his first season in charge.
Brocchi will make his debut as Milan coach against Sampdoria on Sunday.