Roma are set to appoint Claudio Ranieri as the new manager of the club after announcing the departure of Eusebio Di Francesco. The shock arrival of the former Fulham manager is expected to be formally announced shortly, with the club acting swiftly to sack Di Francesco on Thursday afternoon after their Champions League exit at Porto on Wednesday night.

Porto score VAR penalty in extra time to send Roma out of Champions League Read more

Ranieri, who was sacked by Fulham last month after just over three months in charge, has previously managed the Serie A club between 2009 and 2011.

The Giallorossi are fifth in the Serie A table, but after a strong run to the Champions League semi-finals last season, where they were beaten by Liverpool, they fell in the last 16 after extra-time drama in Portugal. They also suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat to Lazio in last Saturday’s Rome derby and were thumped 7-1 by Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia last month.

“On behalf of myself and everyone at AS Roma, I’d like to thank Eusebio for his work and his commitment,” said the Roma president, Jim Pallotta. “Since returning to the club, Eusebio has always acted professionally and put the club’s needs ahead of his own. We all wish him well for the future.”

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Roma went out on Wednesday after Porto converted a VAR-assisted penalty three minutes from the end of extra-time. The decision, along with the subsequent rejection of a last-gasp penalty appeal, condemned the Italian side to a 3-1 defeat on the night, 4-3 on aggregate.

Pallotta later railed at the decisions on social media. “Last year we asked for VAR in the Champions League because we got screwed in the semi-final and tonight they’ve got VAR and we still get robbed,” he said. “Patrik Schick was clearly clipped in the box, VAR shows it, and nothing is given. I’m tired of this shit. I give up.”