Malesani takes Panathinaikos post

Watching brief
The 50-year-old Malesani was due to watch this evening's UEFA Cup tie against Sevilla FC from the stands before taking the reins tomorrow ahead of Sunday's league fixture against Egaleo FC. He spoke of his pleasure at joining "a great club who are respected throughout Europe" and added: "I hope that all of us - club officials, coach and players - can give the fans something to smile about."

Fylakouris in temporary charge
Although Šcasný's dismissal was not confirmed officially until today, youth-team coach Panagiotis Fylakouris took temporary charge for last weekend's 5-1 win against Apollon Kalamarias FC as well as tonight's first leg against Sevilla. Panathinaikos, who had also been linked with Norwegian coach Trond Sollied, are five points behind Olympiacos CFP at the top of the Greek league and were knocked out of the Greek Cup by AEK Athens FC at the start of the month.

Career path
The Panathinaikos job is the first outside Italy for Malesani, who was born in Verona in 1954 and began his coaching career in 1989 with the youth team of AC Chievo Verona. By 1994 he had become Chievo's head coach and led them to promotion from Serie C1 to Serie B.

UEFA Cup winner
He took the step up to Serie A in 1997 with AC Fiorentina and the following year was appointed coach at Parma AC, where he won the UEFA Cup in 1999. Since then he has had disappointing stays at Hellas-Verona FC, whom he could not save from relegation in 2003, and Modena FC, where he was sacked last year.