Serie A

Only on FIFA Ultimate Team could someone imagine having Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo as a striking trio.

Serie A champions Juventus stunned Italian football on Saturday by naming World Cup-winning midfielder Andrea Pirlo as manager on a two-year contract even though their former player has no previous experience in the role.

Pirlo, 41, was promoted to the senior job one week after being named coach of Juve's under-23 side, who play in the Italian third tier, and without having taken charge of a match. The decision came hours after the Turin club sacked coach Maurizio Sarri following their Champions League last-16 exit to Lyon on away goals on Friday.

Serie A club Juventus has sacked title-winning coach Maurizio Sarri after only one season in charge, following the team's elimination from the Champions League in the Round of 16 on Friday, the Turin club said in a statement.

The 61-year-old was dismissed despite leading Juventus to the Serie A title two weeks ago, the club’s ninth in a row.

161 days since punching their respective tickets to the Europa League Round of 16 (and 322 days since the group stage began), Sevilla and Roma returned to the pitch in Duisburg, Germany, on Thursday in a match that exemplified the strangeness of European football’s return.

This tie was one of two that failed to play a first leg back in March, so a single-leg format at a neutral venue in Germany (where the remainder of the tournament’s matches will be played from the quarterfinals on) was used to determine this one. 

U.S. billionaire Dan Friedkin has signed a deal worth more than $700 million to purchase the Italian Serie A soccer club AS Roma, the club said on Thursday.

Roma said in statement that formal contracts with the Houston, Texas-based Friedkin Group were signed on Wednesday for a transaction valued at 591 million euros.

"We look forward to closing the purchase as soon as possible and immersing ourselves in the AS Roma family," Friedkin said in a statement on the club website.

Three players were sent off as Genoa, Italy's oldest professional club, beat Hellas Verona 3-0 to guarantee their Serie A survival on Sunday while Lecce became the final team to be relegated after losing 4-3 at home to Parma.

Genoa, whose coach Davide Nicola pulled off one of Serie A's great escapes with Crotone three years ago, finished 17th in the 20-team table with 39 points after ensuring their survival on the last day of the season for the second year running.

When Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte faces the cameras after a match, it is a case of lighting the blue touch paper and standing well back.

In his first season at Inter, the 51-year-old former Juventus, Italy and Chelsea coach has railed against his own club's "poor planning" and an "insane" fixture list, and even blamed one poor performance on the opposition playing the wrong kind of football.

His latest outburst, however, after a 2-0 win at Atalanta on Saturday that clinched second place for Inter in Serie A, has led to all sorts of intrigue.

Lazio forward Ciro Immobile equaled the Serie A scoring record for a single season when he was on target in his side's 3-1 loss at Napoli in their final game of the season on Saturday.

The 30-year-old took his tally to 36 goals, equalling the record set by Gonzalo Higuain for Napoli in the 2015-16 season. He also finished the season five goals clear of the next leading scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus, who did not play Saturday.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic must’ve been watching Major League Soccer on Friday night (into Saturday morning in Italy). He accomplished what this weekend we’ll call “doing a Nani.”

On Friday, Nani missed a penalty kick in regulation but converted the final attempt in the shootout as Orlando City upset LAFC in the MLS Is Back quarterfinals. A fellow former Manchester United player who spent the two years prior in MLS, Zlatan followed a similar pattern in AC Milan’s final Serie A match of the season.