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Having waited almost a year for another shot at top-level management, Frank Lampard has been tasked with as tough a challenge as it gets: resurrecting an Everton side in turmoil.

It is not the best time to be a Toffees supporter, and protests outside Goodison Park have become commonplace.

Fans have called for the board to be sacked, pleaded with the club last summer not to appoint former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, and made clear — in graffiti as well — their opposition to the proposed hiring of Vitor Pereira over Lampard.

Barcelona have signed speedy Spain winger Adama Traoré on loan from Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers until the end of the season, the LaLiga club announced on Saturday.

The agreement includes an option to make the transfer permanent, Barcelona said in a statement.

TURIN, Italy — Juventus have signed Fiorentina striker Dušan Vlahović, the Italian club announced on Friday, with the deal worth up to a maximum of 80 million euros ($89.22 million), plus other charges, making it the biggest transfer of the January window so far.

The 22-year-old, who is the joint-top scorer in Serie A this season with 17 goals, has signed a deal until June 2026 in Turin.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday that increased revenues from a biennial World Cup would create opportunities for Africans who otherwise could migrate and find "death in the sea" crossing the Mediterranean.

YAOUNDE — At least six fans died in a stampede at the Yaounde Olembe Stadium in Cameroon on Monday before the host nation's round of 16 game in the African Cup of Nations against Comoros, the Central African nation's national broadcaster reported.

It said dozens of others were injured.

Images shared on social media, which Reuters could not immediately authenticate, showed screaming fans being crushed at an entrance gate.

ROME — Mario Balotelli was named in the Italy squad for the first time since 2018 on Monday, as the Adana Demirspor striker joined seven uncapped players in Roberto Mancini's 35-man training camp selection.

Balotelli, who worked under Azzurri coach Mancini earlier in his career at Inter Milan and Manchester City, has not featured for the national team since September 2018.

But the 31-year-old earned a recall for this week's three-day training camp after scoring eight goals in 18 league games to fire Adana Demirspor to fourth place in the Turkish Super Lig.

ROME — Italy's Supreme Court confirmed the conviction of former AC Milan and Brazil striker Robinho to nine years in prison for his involvement in a gang rape of an Albanian woman in 2013, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

The ruling cannot be challenged and is definitive.

In 2017 a Milan court found Robinho and five other Brazilians guilty of assaulting the woman after plying her with alcohol in a discotheque. The conviction was confirmed by an appeals court in 2020.

Argentina has left Lionel Messi out of their squad for World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia as the Paris St. Germain forward continues his recovery from COVID-19 infection.

The twice World Cup winners and current Copa America champions have qualified for the finals in Qatar and sit second in the 10-team South American group.

The 34-year-old Messi was omitted from Argentina’s 27-man squad after not playing for PSG since Dec. 22 against FC Lorient in French Ligue 1.

Francisco "Paco" Gento, one of Read Madrid's greatest players and a European champion with Spain, has died at the age of 88, the club said on Tuesday.

Official Announcement: Passing of Francisco Gento.#RealMadrid

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) January 18, 2022