What to watch in the main competitions

Claudio Ranieri loves a challenge and his latest job at Sampdoria will be anything but straightforward.

The Genoa-based club sits last in Serie A, has lost six of seven matches and Fabio Quagliarella — the team's most emblematic player and the league's leading scorer last season — is in a goal drought.

It's the 20th coaching job of Ranieri's career — including two stops at both Valencia and Roma.

While he will always be remembered for leading Leicester to a highly improbable Premier League title in 2016, Ranieri remains a rescue man.

He was hired to replace Eusebio Di Francesco at Roma for the final three months of last season and earn the Giallorossi a spot in the Champions League. When he took over, Roma was fifth and three points behind Inter Milan; at season's end, Roma was sixth and still three points behind Inter.

Ranieri again replaced Di Francesco at Sampdoria.

And as luck would have it, Ranieri's first match in charge of "La Samp" will come against Roma on Sunday, which is his 68th birthday. Roma is Ranieri's hometown club, the team he grew up supporting and the first professional side that he played for.

Fans this week protested outside the home of former Sampdoria president Edoardo Garrone for selling the club to current owner Massimo Ferrero, who has curtailed his investments in the team.

Sampdoria has spent only one of the last 17 seasons in Serie B, in 2011-12, so relegation would be a complete failure.

Teenager Ansu Fati becomes next promising star in Spain

A 16-year-old forward born in Guinea-Bissau has become the next promising soccer star in Spain. Ansu Fati, who made his debut with Barcelona this season, has quickly attracted everyone's attention and is already touted by many as the next big thing for the Spanish national team.

Fati played his first match with Spain's under-21 squad on Tuesday and the next day shared frontpage headlines with the senior squad, which had sealed its place in the 2020 European Championship on the same night.

The Spanish soccer federation moved quickly to make sure Fati was eligible to play for Spain following his rapid rise with the Catalan club. He has been living in Spain since a young age but reportedly also could have chosen to play for Portugal.

Fati played his first professional match less than two months ago, coming off the bench in Barcelona's 5-2 victory over Real Betis in the Spanish league. In his following game, Fati became the club's youngest player to score in the Spanish league, and then was also the youngest to score at Camp Nou. Fati later played in the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund, becoming Barcelona's youngest player to appear in a UEFA competition.

Fati has racked up nearly 240 minutes in six appearances with the Catalan club so far, most of them coming off the bench.

He was brought up from Barcelona's academy to the main team after a wave of injuries to players in the senior squad at the beginning of the season, including Lionel Messi.

Fati has great skills and moves that make him especially dangerous in one-on-one situations. The speedy forward has impressed the most with his maturity on the field, though, not showing signs he has been affected by the pressure to which he has been exposed to since starting to play professionally.

Fati played only about 10 minutes off the bench in Spain's 2-0 win over Montenegro in qualifying for the 2021 Under-21 European Championship on Tuesday, but it was enough for him to get a glimpse of what could lie ahead.

Pogba ruled out of Liverpool game; De Gea major doubt

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says midfielder Paul Pogba has been ruled out of Sunday's Premier League game against Liverpool, while goalkeeper David De Gea is unlikely to recover in time for the match. Pogba has an ankle problem and Solskjaer confirmed that the 26year-old has had a setback in his recovery.

Solskjaer told Sky Sports: "Paul had an injury, he came back, he worked really hard. He came back and played a couple of games, maybe played through the pain barrier. "He had a scan after the Arsenal game and maybe needed a few weeks' rest in a boot so hopefully he won't be too long, but he won't make this game, no." De Gea was forced off with a leg muscle injury in during Spain's European Championship qualifier against Sweden on Tuesday and Solskjaer said he is also likely to miss the Liverpool game at Old Trafford.