Rafael Benítez's unhappy six-month tenure at the European champions, Internazionale, ended tonight when the Spaniard's contract at San Siro was terminated, with the parting of the ways set to be formally confirmed in the next 24 hours.

The Italian club's president, Massimo Moratti, is in the process of negotiating the manager's payoff with the pair's relationship having fractured beyond repair in recent weeks. Benítez claimed Inter's fifth trophy of the year on Saturday when his side won the World Club Cup by defeating the Congolese team TP Mazembe in Abu Dhabi, but the tensions spilled over in his post-match press conference as he effectively served Moratti with an ultimatum to back him in the transfer market next month or sack him.

Inter, alarmed by the manager's verbal attack, have now taken the latter option with last season's treble winners languishing seventh in Serie A, 13 points off the leaders Milan, albeit with two games in hand, with the domestic league now in its midwinter break. Moratti's pursuit of the former Roma coach Luciano Spalletti appears set to be frustrated with his club, Zenit St Petersburg, insistent that he will remain in Russia for another season with their owners, Gazprom, having promised him significant funds to strengthen his side ahead of the defence of their trophy next term.

That will leave Inter to court the former Rossoneri coach Leonardo – there are suggestions talks are already at an advanced stage – to step in to the dug-out for the immediate future, potentially with a view to becoming a technical director at the club at the end of the season when a permanent managerial appointment is made.

Moratti declined to comment publicly on the change in management today, but the matter is in the hands of the lawyers as both club and Benítez seek a settlement on the compensation owed on the remaining 18 months of the 50-year-old's contract at San Siro. Benítez is back in Liverpool, where he spent six years in charge at Anfield, with his family at present reflecting on a six-month spell in Italian football that yielded only six league wins.

His spell at the club, as the successor to José Mourinho, had been undermined by injuries to key players and by the Italian champions' reluctance to spend heavily in the transfer market. The majority of supporters appeared to be sympathetic of the constraints under which Benítez had to work and had welcomed him back to Milan at the weekend chorusing his name.

However, the reality was that the Spaniard was never Moratti's first choice to fill the void left by Mourinho and was only secured as a 'big name' appointment once it was clear that the likes of Guus Hiddink and Fabio Capello would not be available. Benítez described his relationship with the club's president as "respectful" yesterday though, in reality, their partnership had long since fractured with the manager frustrated that he had not been able to remodel the team in the same lavish manner as his predecessor.

Capello, whose contract with the Football Association runs until 2012, is not under consideration at San Siro and will remain as England's coach during the European Championships qualifying campaign. Sources close to the 64-year-old have indicated that he would not be interested in returning to Serie A in a managerial capacity and remains committed to the national side.