Dundee United’s relegation from the cinch Premiership was confirmed as they fell to a 3-2 defeat at Motherwell.
The Terrors required a victory and an eight-goal swing in goal difference to avoid the drop but they were unable to produce a great escape at Fir Park.
Kevin van Veen took his incredible scoring run to 11 consecutive matches by breaking the deadlock after five minutes – setting a new Scottish Premiership record in the process.
United responded through Jamie McGrath’s penalty and Steven Fletcher coolly fired Jim Goodwin’s side ahead early in the second half, but Motherwell would come surging back.
Blair Spittal levelled after 69 minutes before Max Johnston grabbed a winner shortly after having a goal ruled out for offside.
Spittal saw a shot gathered at the second time of asking as the home side threatened in the first minute.
The opening goal arrived after five minutes when Sean Goss dispossessed Glenn Middleton and slid a neat through ball to Van Veen, who coolly rounded the goalkeeper before slamming the ball into the net.
United were in desperate need of a response, and a good stop by Liam Kelly prevented Middleton drawing them level in the 10th minute. Fletcher was then denied an equaliser by an excellent goal-line clearance from Paul McGinn.
Van Veen almost doubled his tally after he connected with Stephen O’Donnell’s cross, only for his header to clip the crossbar and drift over the top.
Referee Steven MacLean awarded the visitors a penalty following a VAR check on the half-hour which showed Bevis Mugabi to have handled inside the area.
McGrath stepped up to take the resulting spot-kick and he powerfully dispatched the ball beyond the reach of Kelly to restore parity for Goodwin’s men.
Mikael Mandron passed up a glorious chance to head Motherwell back in front when he failed to hit the target following good work from Van Veen.
Fletcher’s close-range header struck the outside of a post just before half-time, though the striker would complete the turnaround three minutes into the second half – giving their travelling supporters a glimmer of hope that they could orchestrate a miracle turnaround.
Peter Pawlett did well to link with McGrath before surging forward, and he teed-up Fletcher for the simplest of finishes past Kelly.
A superb save by Jack Newman prevented Mugabi’s point-blank header from finding the net and there was a further chance for Mandron before James Furlong’s low drive somehow stayed out after striking a post and flashing across the goal-line.
The equaliser eventually arrived with 21 minutes remaining on the clock, Spittal drilling the ball beyond the despairing Newman from the edge of the box.
Johnston saw a goal ruled out for offside as the home side continued to press and Goss really should have taken on a shot himself rather than squaring the ball to Van Veen who was hampered by a tight angle.
Johnston was not to denied second time around when he found the net again with eight minutes left on the clock, turning home Furlong’s cross to put beyond any doubt that the Tannadice side would be relegated.
Ranieri comes out of retirement to take charge of Roma
Claudio Ranieri has come out of retirement to take charge of Roma until the end of the season.
The Italian retired in May, calling time on a career in which he famously led Leicester City to a shock Premier League title in 2016 and coached a host of teams from Europe's top leagues, including Chelsea, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Inter and Monaco.
Ranieri, who last coached Cagliari in Serie A, returns for a third stint in charge of Roma, with whom he came agonisingly close to winning the Serie A title in his first spell between 2009 and 2011.
Across his previous two spells, the 73-year-old managed 96 games in all competitions, registering 53 wins, with a win percentage of 55.21%.
"Roma is pleased to announce that Claudio Ranieri is the new Technical Manager of the First Team," Roma said in a statement.
"At the end of the season he will take on a senior managerial role, he will be an advisor to the ownership for all sporting matters of the club.
"The search for a new coach will continue in the coming months and Claudio will also have a say in this decision."
Ranieri replaces Juric, who was sacked after Roma lost 3-2 at home against Bologna on Sunday, leaving them languishing in 12th place in the Serie A standings.
Juric, who won just four of his 12 games in charge of the club, was Roma's second coach to be fired this season, with Daniele De Rossi being sacked in September.
According to reports in Italian media, Roma found it difficult to sign a replacement for the Croatian before settling on Ranieri, with former Italy coach Roberto Mancini and Maurizio Sarri among the preferred candidates.
Ranieri's first game will be away to league leaders Napoli on November 24.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
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