In a wild season of comings and goings at Chelsea, Frank Lampard’s return to Stamford Bridge is among the most improbable of the lot.

Lampard, Chelsea’s record scorer and one of its greatest ever players, was hired Thursday as interim manager until the end of the season to give the club time to find a permanent replacement for the fired Graham Potter.

Chelsea currently stands 11th in the English Premier League.

It will be Lampard’s second spell as Chelsea manage. He was fired in January 2021 after 18 months in charge and replaced by Thomas Tuchel.

Lampard’s first spell coaching Chelsea came before the arrival of the club’s current ownership fronted by American businessman Todd Boehly.

Now Lampard, 44, is back seemingly as a shortterm fix while Chelsea continues to talk to candidates for the job on a fulltime basis.

Lampard, who has been out of work since getting fired by relegation-threatened Everton in January, will be leading Chelsea into the Champions League quarterfinals and a two-leg meeting with defending champion Real Madrid, coached by former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti.

• Juventus was given a partial stadium ban for its next home game in the Italian Cup after some of its supporters directed racist chants at Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku on Tuesday.

College basketball: As expected, UCLA G Jaime Jaquez will forgo his final year of eligibility and declare for the NBA draft.

Jaquez, who helped lead the Bruins to the Final Four in 2021, was a consensus All-American and the Pac-12 player of the year this past season.

NFL: Four-time All-Pro WR Tyreek Hill said in an interview that he plans to retire when his contract with the Dolphins expires after the 2025 season.

Hill, 29, was second in the league last season with 119 receptions and 1,710 yards.