Messi starts from bench against Copa champions Chile

Lazio have sacked head coach Stefano Pioli following the club s 4-1 defeat to Roma in the Rome derby on Sunday.

The club s youth team coach and former striker Simone Inzaghi has been announced as Pioli s replacement until the end of the season after a run of only two wins in 10 Serie A matches left the club eighth in the table after 31 matches.

Pioli, 50, took over Lazio in June 2014 and led them to finish third in Serie A last season, but has struggled this season.

In the derby, Stephan El Shaarawy put Luciano Spalletti s side ahead and Edin Dzeko added a second before Marco Parolo hit back.

But goals from Alessandro Florenzi and Diego Perotti secured victory for Roma, while Lazio s Wesley Hoedt was sent off deep in injury time to cap a miserable a day …

Last season s losing finalists Chelsea return to FA Cup action on Saturday with a trip to Championship side Norwich City.

The Blues were favourites to lift the trophy last May, but were beaten 2-1 by Arsenal at Wembley as the Gunners won the competition for the third time in four years.

They head into Saturday s game on the back of a at Arsenal on Wednesday.

Norwich have won two of their previous three Championship games and are currently 13th in table after 26 games.

Chelsea are priced at 4/9 to win the game, with Norwich available at 6/1. The draw is on offer at 10/3, but visit before wagering to give yourself the chance of boosting your bankroll.

David Luiz may return to the Chelsea side for the first time since the end of October, having be…

Swansea City manager Garry Monk has revealed it would take an astronomical fee for the club to sell star striker Wilfried Bony.

The Côte d’Ivoire international, who joined Swansea from Dutch Eredivisie side Vitesse for a club record fee of £12 million in the summer of 2013, has been linked with the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur in recent times.

Last month, Bony signed a one-year contract extension at the Liberty Stadium, but speculation regarding the Ivorian s future continue to dominate the headlines.

Speaking ahead of the Swans league clash against Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday, Monk has moved to rubbish reports linking Bony with a January exit from the club.

He s a Swansea City player, said Monk.

In this…

Italy s preparations for Euro 2012 have been disrupted after 19 people, including Lazio skipper Stefano Mauri, were arrested over match-fixing.

A number of high-profile figures are under investigation for their role in the Scommessopoli scandal, with Italian police arresting Mauri, who has been capped 11 times for Italy, for his alleged role, while former Genoa midfielder Omar Milanetto was among the others arrested, authorities have revealed.

In this part of the investigation, indications have emerged of manipulation in matches from the 2010-11 Serie A championship, including games between Lazio and Genoa and Lecce and Lazio, Raffale Grassi, director of SCO, the police service responsible for the investigation told SkyTG24 television.

The persons detained on M…

Rangers were convincingly beaten 4-0 by a classy Liverpool side in a friendly match at Ibrox on Saturday.

The English Premiership giants cruised to victory with a first-half strike from Fernando Torres followed by second-half goals from David Ngog, Yossi Benayoun and Xabi Alonso.

Both teams had fielded strong line-ups with Liverpool coach Rafael Benitz opting to try out his new strike partnership of Torres and Robbie Keane for the first time.

The game was played at a high tempo and the home side had the better of the opening exchanges.

Rangers twice went close to opening the scoring in the first ten minutes.

Lee McCulloch was unlucky to see his low drive from the edge of the box go just wide of Liverpool keeper Diego Cavalieri s left-hand po…

A man has been arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order during Saturday s clash between Manchester City and Manchester United, Greater Manchester Police have confirmed.

During the second half of United s 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium, the visitors midfielder Fred appeared to be hit by an object thrown from the crowd as he prepared to take a corner.

Lighters and a plastic bottle could be seen by the corner flag, while television footage seemed to show a supporter making racist gestures in the direction of Brazil international Fred and his team-mate Jesse Lingard.

Shortly after full-time, City released a statement saying they were investigating and threatened to issue life bans to any individual found to have committed racial abuse.

In a…

Long-serving defender Marcelo concedes he and his team-mates must shoulder the blame for Real Madrid s tough campaign.

Madrid concluded their 2018-19 season with a 2-0 loss at home to Real Betis on Sunday, leaving them with a final points tally of 68 in LaLiga their lowest return since 2001-02.

The Spanish giants also exited the Champions League at the last-16 stage with defeat to Ajax and were beaten by bitter rivals Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.

And Marcelo, who lost his place in the side to Sergio Reguilon prior to Zidane s reappointment, admits the entire squad should accept responsibility for what has happened over the past nine months.

We are the guilty ones, he said after the match. We started the season badly and we ve ende…

Diego Simeone has extended his contract with Atletico Madrid, tying him to the club until 2017.

The Liga outfit have had an excellent season to date, and sit second on the table, ahead of local rivals Real Madrid.

The club have also qualified for the Copa del Rey final thanks to a 4-3 aggregate win over Sevilla in the semi-final, setting up a mouth-watering clash against Jose Mourinho s men in May.

A statement released on Tuesday afternoon by the club said: Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone have agreed to renew the coach s contract for the next four seasons.

The coach, who played as a player in the Rojiblancos in two separate periods (1994-97 and 2003-05), including the historic double-winning time in 1996, returned to Atleti in late December 2011 to tak…

Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins is confident that a deal to sign Bafetimbi Gomis is edging closer to being finalised.

The France international striker is a free agent after reaching the end of four-year stint at Lyon and has made no secret of his desire to move to the Premier League.

Gomis has been heavily linked with Swansea in the past month and the 28-year-old has reportedly spent time at the club this week discussing terms and undergoing medical checks.

Jenkins told the Swansea Evening Post: I think it s good to do things with caution.

He (Gomis) is still here and we are hoping to get things concluded soon.

Gomis scored 94 goals in 243 appearances for Lyon, helping them to the Coupe de France in 2012.

Swansea, meanwhile, have a…

Gary Lineker was back on the BBC on Saturday as the former England striker returned with a teasing dig at his critics.

Lineker, the 1986 World Cup Golden Boot winner, was not involved in last week s edition of Match of the Day after becoming involved in a political row following a Twitter post in which he criticised the UK government s immigration policy.

The BBC asked Lineker to step back from hosting the popular football show, which led to a number of commentators and pundits, including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, refusing to take part.

A much-trimmed version of the show was broadcast on Saturday and Sunday, only showing highlights of the weekend s Premier League games with no analysis or commentary.

On Monday, it was announced the BBC would review its…