Roma have sacked manager Daniele de Rossi just four matches into the new Serie A season.

Roma, who hired De Rossi to replace Jose Mourinho at the Stadio Olimpico in January, have been unable to win any of their Serie A matches this season, drawing three and losing at home to Empoli last month.

Roma are currently 16th in the Serie A standings following their 1-1 draw at Genoa on Sunday.

A club statement read: “The club’s decision is taken in the interest of the team, to be able to promptly resume the desired path at a time when the season is still at its beginning.

“To Daniele, who will always be at home in the Giallorossi club, a heartfelt thanks for the work carried out in these months with passion and dedication.”

De Rossi’s tenure at Roma started superbly. In his first 11 league matches, Roma lost just once, picking up 26 points from a possible 33. That run took Roma from ninth to fifth in the table.

They also reached the semi-finals of the Europa League, being knocked out by Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen.

A sixth-place finish last season saw them qualify again for this season’s Europa League. Among Roma’s fixtures in Europe this season are a trip to Tottenham on 28 November.

This summer, Roma signed last season’s La Liga top goalscorer Artem Dovbyk from Girona, as well as experienced German centre-back Mats Hummels on a free transfer.

There have been a number of exits. Former Manchester United centre-back Chris Smalling left for Saudi Pro League side Al-Fayha, former Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham has joined AC Milan on loan and Romelu Lukau, who spent last season on loan from Chelsea with Roma, has joined Napoli.

Andrea Belotti (Como), Rui Patricio (Atalanta) and Leonardo Spinazzola (Napoli) have also departed in recent months.

As a player, De Rossi, who is now 41, spent 22 years with Roma between 1997 and 2019, making 616 appearances for them. He was also part of Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning side.

The Friedkin Group, whose proposed takeover of Everton collapsed in July, own a 95.97% stake in the club.

Just 215 miles apart, New York and Boston are home to two of the most successful sides in Major League Baseball.

The Yankees have won the sport’s top prize – the World Series – more times than any other franchise (27), while the Red Sox are the third most decorated team with nine championships.

The two teams first played one another in 1903 but the rivalry gained serious traction when baseball’s greatest-ever player, Babe Ruth, was controversially sold to the Yankees by the Red Sox in 1919.

The Red Sox, who had won three World Series titles with Ruth in the side, had to then watch the New York side dominate the sport for most of the 20th century.

The era popularised the ‘Curse of the Bambino’ – a reference to Ruth’s nickname and a superstition Red Sox fans would carry until they finally won the World Series again in 2004, ending an 86-year wait.

Their most recent championship was 2018, while the Yankees have not won one since 2009.

By now, comparisons were being made with Paolo Rossi, the inspiration when Italy won the 1982 World Cup.

“Rossi was a champion,” Schillaci said ahead of a semi-final against Argentina that his side were expected to win. “I am an ordinary, modest guy. I just hope I can continue to do what I have been doing.”

He did, opening the scoring with another poacher’s effort, but this time it was not enough. Italy passed England’s record of 499 minutes without conceding at a finals before their goal was breached in the second half – and the fairy tale was finished when they went out on penalties.

Every national newspaper in Italy used the headline ‘End of a dream’ while Gazzetta and Corriere dello Sport simply put ‘NO’ in huge letters on their front pages.

“We deserved to win,” reflected Schillaci. “I think if we had beaten Argentina we would have gone on to win the World Cup.”

That was not quite the end of the Schillaci story, however. The day before West Germany beat Argentina in the final, he grabbed his sixth goal of the tournament in the third-place play-off against England, putting him ahead of Czech Tomas Skuhravy as the tournament’s leading goalscorer.

“After the tournament, I went away to somewhere quiet,” Schillaci says. “Everybody wanted a piece of me but I just wanted to get away from it all, especially after the pain of our semi-final defeat.”

The next time he made the headlines, it would be for a less savoury reason. The following November, he was banned for one game for threatening to have Fabio Poll shot after the Bologna player punched him during an on-pitch row.

By then, the goals were drying up too. He scored only five in the league in the 1990-91 season and six the following campaign. An injury-plagued move to Inter Milan in 1992 failed to revive him and he ended his career in exile – albeit a lucrative one – as the first Italian to play in Japan’s fledgling J-League.

While he was still in Serie A and struggling to regain his World Cup form, Schillaci said: “Even if I were to drop out of the Italian team, I will still have with me for the rest of my life the wonderful memories of Italia ’90.”

He still had them after returning to his home city to run the youth academy he used to play for.

What was clear from talking to Schillaci was that, while he enjoyed reliving past glories when he was asked to play in exhibition matches, he was also happy his fame did not change him too much.

MMA Fighting has Joshua vs. Dubois results live for the Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois fight card at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on Saturday afternoon.

When the main event begins around 5 p.m. ET, check out our Joshua vs. Dubois live round-by-round updates for our live blog of the main event.

Anthony Joshua (28-3) has reeled off four straight victories, including a devastating knockout of former UFC champion Francis Ngannou this past March.

Daniel Dubois (21-2) was recently promoted to IBF world heavyweight champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt. He defeated Filip Hrgovic via eighth-round TKO this past June to win the IBF interim title.

Check out the Joshua vs. Dubois results below.

Fight Card (PPV.com at 11 a.m. ET)

Main event

Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois — IBF heavyweight title fight

Undercard

Tyler Denny vs. Hamza Sheeraz — EBU European middleweight title fight

Anthony Cacace vs. Josh Warrington — IBF and IBO super featherweight title fight

Ishmael Davis vs. Josh Kelly — 12-round middleweight fight

Joshua Buatsi vs. Willy Hutchinson — WBO interim light heavyweight title fight

Mark Chamberlain vs. Josh Padley — 10-round lightweight fight

MMA Fighting has Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois live round-by-round updates for one of the most anticipated boxing fights of the year at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on Saturday afternoon.

The main event is expected to begin around 5 p.m. ET on DAZN and PPV.com pay-per-view. Check out our Joshua vs. Dubois results page to find out what happened on the undercard.

Anthony Joshua (28-3) has reeled off four straight victories, including a devastating knockout of former UFC champion Francis Ngannou this past March.

Daniel Dubois (21-2) was recently promoted to IBF world heavyweight champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt. He defeated Filip Hrgovic via eighth-round TKO this past June to win the IBF interim title.

Get the Joshua vs. Dubois main event live blog below.

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

Round 5:

Round 6:

Round 7:

Round 8:

Round 9:

Round 10:

Round 11:

Round 12: