Managers

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system is not being used correctly in LaLiga, Barcelona manager Quique Setién said on Monday following Real Madrid's controversial win at Real Sociedad.

Madrid beat Sociedad 2-1 to climb above Barcelona at the top of LaLiga but the home side were aggrieved because they had a goal ruled out by VAR for offside and Karim Benzema's winner stood after he appeared to control the ball with his arm.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard praised Christian Pulisic as the American forward scored an equalizer five minutes after coming off the bench to help Chelsea earn a 2-1 comeback win at Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.

Pulisic leveled on the hour after Kortney Hause had given Villa a 43rd minute lead and Frenchman Olivier Giroud netted the winner two minutes later, tightening Chelsea's grip on fourth place.

Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri has rubbished suggestions of a falling out with midfielder Miralem Pjanic and is confident Cristiano Ronaldo will quickly bounce back from his disappointing restart to the season.

Sarri has quickly found himself under pressure after Juventus were beaten on penalties by Napoli in Wednesday's Coppa Italia final.

The only other game they have contested since the three-month stoppage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was the Coppa semifinal at home to AC Milan five days earlier, which also ended 0-0 after Ronaldo missed a penalty.

Real Betis became the first LaLiga club to sack a coach since the season re-started after being halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, firing Rubi who failed to win any of the team's first three matches in their return to action.

Betis lost their first game back 2-0 to Sevilla and drew 2-2 with Granada in mid-week while the final straw proved to be Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Athletic Bilbao, after Sergio Canales missed a late penalty.

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuettl spent the COVID-19 lockdown period putting the finishing touches to a masterpiece he hopes will turbo-charge the pipeline from the Premier League club's vaunted youth academy to the first team.

The flow of talent from the academy is noteworthy. Saints have unearthed and developed stars including Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and their new skipper James Ward-Prowse.

But the supply has slowed in recent years, and Hasenhuettl is banking on his “SFC Playbook” reversing that trend.

Serie A has not even restarted following the coronavirus stoppage, yet pressure is already mounting on Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri following his side's failure to win the Coppa Italia.

It’s been a tale of two halves for Schalke 04 this season. 

The arrival of Jürgen Klopp protégé David Wagner was hailed as a progressive step forward after a disastrous 2018-19 campaign that saw the club flirt with relegation, and that excitement was thoroughly justified through 18 games as Schalke climbed as high as fifth in the Bundesliga.

Atlético Madrid's long-serving assistant coach Germán "Mono" Burgos has announced he is leaving the club at the end of this campaign after over eight years in order to become a head coach.

"At the end of this season I will start my journey as a first team coach. With more than 10 years experience in LaLiga I think I am perfectly capable of guiding a team's destiny," Burgos said in a video on Atlético's website on Wednesday.

Valencia has criticized Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini for taking charge of his side's Champions League match against the Spanish side in March despite suffering from symptoms of the novel coronavirus.

Gasperini told Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport on Sunday that he felt ill on the day before the last-16 second leg match in Valencia on March 10, which was played without spectators as northern Italy was then the epicenter of the virus in Europe.

He also confirmed he has since tested positive from an antibodies test.