Juventus elimination from the Champions League spelled the end for Maurizio Sarri and the start of a new era under Andrea Pirlo.

Despite leading the Bianconeri to a ninth straight Scudetto in 2019-20, Sarri was fired after Juve crashed out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage to Lyon on Friday.

Pirlo was at the heart of Juve s brilliant midfield during the start of their Serie A dominance, winning four Scudetti, the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana twice during a four-year stint that ended when he moved to New York City in 2015.

A week after returning to Juve as their Under-23 boss, Pirlo was handed the reins of the first team ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.

He is not the first club legend to go back and manage a team they played for, thoug…

Second-half goals from Ryan Christie and Che Adams secured a 2-0 victory over Gibraltar in a pre-Euro 2024 friendly, ending a seven-game winless run.

Adams added some gloss to the scoreline late on, latching onto John McGinn s cross to rifle into the top corner after Ryan Christie had put them ahead in the 58th minute.

In the first half, it looked like it was not going to be Scotland s day, as they wastefully spurned a host of chances, with Grant Hanley failing to convert a hat-trick of opportunities.

Though they ended their winless run, there was still cause for concern for Steve Clarke as Liam Cooper, on as a half-time substitute, was forced off injured in the 77th minute.

FULL TIME: Gibraltar 0-2 Scotland.

Goals from Ryan Christie and Ché Ada…

Atletico Madrid star Luis Suarez said he and his team-mates are confident the team can achieve big things this season.

Suarez swapped Barca for Atletico at the start of the 2020-21 campaign and the Uruguayan has helped the capital club remain the only undefeated side in LaLiga this term.

Atletico have won five of their opening seven matches to be three points behind surprise leaders Real Sociedad, who have played two matches more – while they are 23 matches unbeaten in LaLiga, their best undefeated streak in league history and the best current run of any team in the top five European divisions.

Diego Simeone s Atletico – runners-up in 2014 and 2016 – are also second in Champions League Group A following three matchdays, five points adrift of titleholders Ba…

Inter strikers Mehdi Taremi and Marko Arnautovic took their opportunity to impress in a 4-0 Champions League victory over Red Star Belgrade, says Simone Inzaghi.

Taremi converted a penalty and provided two assists, including one for Arnautovic, as Inter overwhelmed the visitors and forced them into costly errors at the back.

Their success came through an energetic pressing game from Taremi in particular, with Inzaghi keen to give the pair an opportunity to start ahead of Lautaro Martínez, who came off the bench to score, and Marcus Thuram.

The lads were good, they played a serious game against a team that came to play a purely defensive game, Inzaghi told Sky Sport.

Apart from a couple of counter-attacks that we could have read better and the first fiv…

Mauricio Pochettino urged his Chelsea players to free themselves of the burden of needing to reach the Carabao Cup final and instead prioritise enjoying Tuesday’s semi-final first leg against Middlesbrough.

The game at the Riverside could see Pochettino’s team put one foot in the club’s first major final since 2021 and place them on course to crown the manager’s first season in charge with silverware.

Chelsea have endured a disjointed six months since the Argentinian was appointed, with an expensively-assembled squad taking longer than hoped to acclimatise to new surroundings.

An update on Nkunku and Badiashile ahead of our semi-final.

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)

Pochettino fielded the club’s youngest-ever Premier League starting XI d…

Mauricio Pochettino hopes that Neymar has not sustained a serious injury, though conceded the images he has seen of the incident do not look good.

Neymar had to be taken off on a stretcher late on after suffering an ankle injury in Paris Saint-Germain s win over Saint-Etienne on Sunday, shortly after Angel Di Maria had made it 2-1 to the Ligue 1 leaders.

Marquinhos then headed in his second goal of the game to round off a difficult 3-1 victory, though focus was on Neymar s injury in Pochettino s post-match media duties.

Neymar was pictured leaving the ground on crutches and while hopeful the forward will make a swift recovery, Pochettino explained PSG must wait for a full diagnosis on Monday.

There is nothing more to say for the moment, it is the pain he…

Real Madrid dramatically rescued a result against Elche for the second time in four days as Eder Militao s stoppage-time header snatched a 2-2 LaLiga draw.

The league leaders recovered from a goal down in Thursday s Copa del Rey defeat of the same side and this time trailed by two, as Lucas Boye and Pere Milla – sent off in midweek – looked set to condemn Madrid to a first home loss in 21 league matches.

Karim Benzema had missed a first-half penalty for the hosts, too, but Luka Modric pulled a goal back from 12 yards with eight minutes remaining when Milla was punished for handball.

Militao then headed home a dramatic equaliser in the 92nd minute to deny Elche a first win in this fixture since March 1978 and restore a four-point gap to second-placed Sev…

Joan Laporta believes Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann showed ignorance by expressing his bemusement over Barcelona s spending spree.

Barca this month signed Bayern s prolific striker Robert Lewandowski for a fee that is said to rise up to €50million and also brought Raphinha to Camp Nou in a big-money move from Leeds United.

The Catalan giants have also agreed a deal to sign Jules Kounde from Sevilla for a reported €55m, while Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen arrived as free agents.

Barcelona could not afford to keep Lionel Messi a year ago due to a financial crisis at the club, but in recent months they have sold 25 per cent of the club s television rights for the next 25 years and secured a hugely lucrative sponsorship deal with Spotify.

Market: St. Mirren win

Odds: 1/1 @

Looking to secure back-to-back Premiership victories this weekend, St, Mirren will welcome Motherwell to Paisley on Saturday afternoon.

Starting with the hosts, managing to claim a welcomed top-flight boost last weekend, St. Mirren will now be hoping to find some Premiership stability. Eventually picking up a routine 2-0 victory against Ross County, Stephen Robinson’s side should be smelling the opportunity to make another statement here. Gaining a string of plaudits since opening up the 2023/24 campaign and remarkably sat third in the standings, the Buddies have continued to shine thanks to their performances on home soil. Signing off October with a stellar 4-0 romp against St. Johnstone, it should be noted that the Paisley-…

Jordi Alba spared Barcelona s blushes against a defiant 10-man Osasuna after his late strike earned the hosts a 1-0 LaLiga win at Camp Nou on Tuesday.

The substitute tucked a low finish past Aitor Fernandez at the near post in the closing stages to keep the Blaugrana on the march to the title.

It delivered crucial relief for Xavi s side after they had largely failed to make the most out of an extra body against the visitors, following Jorge Herrando s 26th-minute red card.

The win moves Barca onto 82 points and potentially just a couple of games away from clinching a first LaLiga title since the 2018-19 campaign.

An otherwise tepid game that had mustered little in the way of excitement burst into life shortly before the half-hour mark when Osasuna debutan…