Steven Gerrard

LONDON - Steven Gerrard withstood a period of intense pressure to turn fallen giants Rangers into Scottish champions again and now Aston Villa provides one of the Premier League's all-time great players with a platform to truly prove himself as a manager.

Gerrard, who spent 17 years patrolling Liverpool's midfield and scored 120 Premier League goals in 504 appearances, has been named Villa boss after the Birmingham club sacked Dean Smith on Sunday.

UEFA said on Friday it was investigating incidents in Rangers' Europa League clash with Slavia Prague after the Scottish club's midfielder Glen Kamara complained of being racially abused by a visiting player in Thursday's 2-0 defeat in Glasgow.

Rangers were knocked out of the competition following a 3-1 aggregate loss in the last-16 second leg after finishing with nine men in a heated encounter which saw a melee on the pitch and clashes in the tunnel after the game.

Rangers celebrated their first league triumph since 2011 after Celtic were frustrated by Dundee United in a 0-0 Premiership draw on Sunday to hand their bitter Glasgow rivals the title.

Rangers fans had flouted COVID-19 lockdown restrictions to gather outside Ibrox before and after Saturday's 3-0 win over St Mirren which moved the team to within a point of the title and Celtic needed a win to delay their celebrations. But despite dominating possession and having more than 25 shots during the game, visitors Celtic were unable to find a way past a determined United side.

While he may have been reluctant to admit it ahead of the game, Neil Lennon knows his Celtic side's aspirations for a 10th straight league title will come to naught. 

Celtic is 23 points off of Steven Gerrard's Rangers in second place, and on Saturday dropped one of its three games in hand to sixth-place St. Mirren, 2-1. Poor defending from Brighton loanee Shane Duffy allowed Ilkay Durmus to put St. Mirren back in front in the 37th minute, five minutes after Odsonne Edouard had drawn the hosts back level. 

As the year draws to a close, Steven Gerrard's Rangers side is well-placed to end its 10-year run without a Premier League championship.

The Gers sit in first place with a 16-point lead over second-placed Celtic, although the Parkhead side has three games in hand. Rangers' rear guard has deservedly earned plaudits this season, having kept a remarkable 17 clean sheets in 21 games and conceded just five goals. 

AMSTERDAM — Fans of Dutch soccer team Willem II Tilburg came under fire in the Netherlands for throwing a large party with no regard for social distancing rules to celebrate their team's return to European competition.

Pictures taken by fans showed around 1,000 supporters singing and dancing on a square in Tilburg on Thursday before Willem II's Europa League qualifying match against Scottish side Rangers.