Coaching

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.

LONDON - Antonio Conte got a crash course in what he can expect as Tottenham Hotspur's new manager after the Italian's first game in charge ended in a 3-2 home victory over Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.

Conte, who replaced Nuno Espírito Santo this week after the Portuguese was sacked 10 Premier League games into his first season, watched his side tear into a 3-0 lead after 28 minutes with Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura on target plus an own goal.

Manchester United's trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday was billed as the last chance saloon for United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but it turned out it was opposite number Nuno Espírito Santo who was being kicked out of the swinging doors on Monday.

Antonio Conte, the former Juventus and Chelsea manager, who was, according to some media reports, about to take over from Solskjaer at United, is now the favorite to be the new Spurs boss.

MANCHESTER, England - Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer labelled Sunday's 5-0 hammering at home to Liverpool the "darkest day" he has had as manager of the club but said he had no intention of quitting his role.

United were 4-0 down at halftime after woeful defending against the deadly Liverpool attack, led by hat-trick hero Mohamed Salah.

MANCHESTER, England - Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær said Cristiano Ronaldo had answered many critics of his value to the team with his display in the 3-2 Champions League win over Atalanta on Wednesday.

Ronaldo grabbed the 81st minute winner with a superbly executed header to maintain his 100% scoring record in group F after three games.

But Solskjær took aim at those who had questioned whether the Portuguese forward, the Champions League record goalscorer, contributed enough work-rate to his side.

If European football wasn’t as familiar with American manager Jesse Marsch as it should’ve been, it sure as hell is now. On Tuesday, the RB Leipzig boss masterminded a stirring performance at the Parc des Princes that had the German side deservedly ahead 2-1 with just over 20 minutes to play. 

But a terrible mistake from American midfielder Tyler Adams allowed Lionel Messi to equalize before a rash challenge in the area gifted PSG another from the spot.   

Jesse Marsch’s first season as RB Leipzig manager was always going to be full of growing pains. He had impossibly large shoes to fill in replacing Julian Nagelsmann — who led Leipzig to the 2020 Champions League semifinals, becoming the youngest-ever coach to reach that stage — and Marsch inherited a side in transition with Dayot Upamecano and Marcel Sabitzer following Nagelsmann to Bayern Munich while Ibrahima Konaté signed with Liverpool.

MADRID - Barcelona's 17-year-old midfielder Gavi has been handed a surprise call up by Spain coach Luis Enrique for the Nations League Final Four tournament in Italy next month.

Gavi, who has only featured for Spain at junior levels previously and turned 17 in August, has made just two LaLiga starts for the Catalans this term. However, he has done enough across his six appearances in all competitions to impress Luis Enrique and earn a spot in the 23-man squad.