Genoa appointed former midfielder Thiago Motta as head coach in his first senior role, it was announced on Tuesday.

Last week s 5-1 Serie A thrashing at the hands of Parma prompted 19th-placed Genoa to sack Aurelio Andreazzoli and turn to Motta.

Motta returns to Genoa, where the former Italy international spent the 2008-09 season as the club qualified for the Europa League.

The 37-year-old had been coaching the Paris Saint-Germain Under-19s side since ending his playing career with the Ligue 1 champions in 2018.

 Ci eravamo lasciati così.

 !

— Genoa CFC (@GenoaCFC)

Motta won league titles and the Champions League with Barcelona and Inter before heading to PSG in 2012, where he won 18 trophies in six years.

He will l…

Market: Deniz Undav to score anytime

Odds: 1/1 @

Looking to extend on their Champions League charge on Saturday afternoon, Stuttgart will welcome Koln to the MHPArena this weekend.

Starting with the hosts, while Stuttgart might have found themselves at the heart of a Bundesliga relegation scrap this season, Die Roten are enjoying a real fairytale this time around. With the mood in their camp at a continued high, Sebastian Hoeneb’s side have continued to receive a string of plaudits from across Germany’s elite. Last seen putting in another rugged performance as they secured a 2-1 victory away at Darmstadt, it is no secret that the Swabians have their sights firmly set on securing a famous Champions League ticket in 2024. In fact, opening February with a 3-1 v…

UEFA is bracing itself for the “extremely challenging” possibility of a Rangers v Liverpool Europa League final in Dublin.

European football’s governing body has reserved the 82,000-capacity Croke Park stadium as a potential fan zone, but is concerned even that might not be enough to accommodate everyone who may come to Dublin without a ticket to soak up the atmosphere for the match on Wednesday, May 22.

Both clubs have big followings in Ireland and remain in contention to reach the finale at the Aviva Stadium, with Rangers level with Benfica heading into the second leg at Ibrox on Thursday and Liverpool 5-1 up against Sparta Prague with the return at Anfield to come.

Which two teams do you want to see in Dublin?

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLe…

Milan returned to the Serie A summit with a 2-0 win at Benevento as Stefano Pioli s side survived playing with 10 men for almost an hour.

With rivals Inter having gone top after a 6-2 thrashing of Crotone earlier on Sunday, the Rossoneri responded with a gritty victory at Stadio Ciro Vigorito.

Franck Kessie scored a first-half penalty but Sandro Tonali was dismissed before the interval to make it a potentially uncomfortable evening for the visitors.

However, Pioli s men dug deep and Rafael Leao produced a moment of magic four minutes into the second half, with Gianluca Caprari s missed spot-kick robbing Benevento of a golden chance to get back into the match.

With champions Juventus up next, Milan have a chance to send out a signal to the rest of t…

Scotland s bid for automatic qualification to Euro 2020 is all but over after they were outclassed by a Kevin De Bruyne-inspired Belgium, who ran out 4-0 victors at Hampden Park.

The Manchester City midfielder made goals for Romelu Lukaku, Thomas Vermaelen and Toby Alderweireld in the first half before claiming a deserved one of his own late on as the Group I leaders ran riot against Steve Clarke s team.

Scotland are at least guaranteed a place in the play-offs in March after winning their Nations League group, but there is much work for new boss Clarke to do before then.

Belgium, meanwhile, lived up to their status as the number-one side in the FIFA rankings as they maintained their 100 per cent record in the group.

Clarke made four changes to the…

Gary Smith believes his Nashville side s thumping of CF Montreal last weekend is a step in the right direction as they look to build their belief .

The 4-1 victory over Montreal, which saw striker Sam Surridge net a hat-trick, ended a run of five games without a win and moved Nashville up to 12th in the Eastern Conference.

As Nashville look to push further up the table when they travel to Charlotte FC this weekend, Smith is looking for his players to build on the Montreal performance.

[The Montreal victory was] the first step in a long journey for us to get back to some rhythm, some success, put ourselves back in a position where there’s some belief here again that we can get results, Smith told reporters.

We ve seen we can score goals. I think that b…

Robert Lewandowski scored a second consecutive home hat-trick in the Bundesliga as 10-man Bayern Munich thrashed Stuttgart 4-0 to extend their lead at the summit to four points.

The Pole, who found the back of the net threes time against Borussia Dortmund on his last league outing at the Allianz Arena, took just 39 minutes to repeat the feat here.

Serge Gnabry also got on the scoresheet in a rampant first half as Hansi Flick s side brushed off the early loss of Alphonso Davies to a red card to claim a thumping victory.

Davies received his marching orders after VAR intervened to upgrade a yellow for his studs-up challenge on Wataru Endo.

After surviving an early storm, Bayern went ahead through Lewandowski, who claimed second place in the Bundesliga s all-…

Paul Pogba hoped his move to Juventus would be a fresh start, but already the midfielder is facing the worrying possibility he could miss the World Cup.

Leaving Manchester United and returning to Turin looked set to be a switch that would allow Pogba to set aside a difficult time in England, where he was plagued by injuries.

However, a knee problem has hit Pogba in the early weeks of his second spell with Juventus, and reports on Thursday in Italy pointed to possible bleak news ahead for the France midfielder, who was a key figure as Les Bleus won the World Cup four years ago in Russia.

Pogba complained of his injury while with Juventus in the United States, and initial checks led Juventus to announce he had suffered a lesion of the lateral meniscus.

The …

Sergio Aguero will leave Manchester City at the end of the 2020-21 campaign with his status as one of the club s greatest ever players well and truly cemented. 

The Argentina international made an immediate impact upon joining from Atletico Madrid in 2011, plundering 23 top-flight goals – including a dramatic stoppage-time winner against QPR on the final day of the season – in his debut season to help City to a first-ever Premier League title. 

He has not looked back from there, scoring goal after goal to help City to three more Premier League crowns, one FA Cup and five EFL Cups. 

The 32-year-old became City s record scorer in November 2017 when he struck in a Champions League win over Napoli, breaking Eric Brook s 78-year record.

Using Opta d…

Bukayo Saka insists Arsenal must stay humble  despite strengthening their Champions League qualifying hopes with victory over Aston Villa.

The England international netted the only goal – the Gunners  2,000th in the Premier League – as the visitors consolidated their top-four status, moving four points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United.

Mikel Arteta s side have now recorded five successive away wins in the Premier League for the first time since May 2015, while registering a 13th clean sheet of the campaign – their highest number since 2015-16 (18).

Saka maintained his impressive form on the road, having now been involved in six goals in his last five league appearances away from Emirates Stadium, scoring five and assisting one.

The 20-year…