Chelsea and Liverpool will have to wait to join Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur in the last-16 of the Champions League, after both were held to draws in their penultimate group fixtures last night. Frank Lampard's side head into their final match at home to Lille knowing three points will guarantee their place in the knockouts, following their 2-2 draw away to Valencia. Christian Pulisic gave the Blues a 2-1 lead after 50 minutes but they were forced to settle for a point after a mistake from Kepa Arrizabalaga allowed Daniel Wass to equalise late on at the Mestalla. Meanwhile Liverpool need to avoid defeat in their final round visit to Salzburg in order to progress after they drew 1-1 with Carlo Ancelotti's Napoli, Dejan Lovren equalising after Dries Mertens opened the scoring at Anfield. In the night's other games, Barcelona guaranteed their progression as group winners for the 13th-consecutive season after a 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund at the Nou Camp, with Lionel Messi on the scoresheet. Later today a youthful Manchester United continue their Europa League campaign away to Astana in Khazakhstan, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side already through to the last-32 (kick-off 3.50pm).
It is Sonia O'Sullivan's 50th birthday, and in her column today she has reflected on her brilliant career and her enduring relationship with running - which burns bright long after stepping down from elite competition. She writes: "I still question myself today: why do you do this now? I have finally reconciled with myself that I truly love to run. There is no greater sense of satisfaction than that which you feel on completing a run, and which is even greater when you can fill an hour of your day with a purposeful run. The energy it gives is hard to find anywhere else in life, the time outside in nature a time to escape. There is a calmness to running now that I never even knew existed when I was training and competing at the highest level." O'Sullivan's finest year came in 1995, when she won 23 of her 25 races as well as securing a famous World Championships gold medal in Gothenburg. You can read about that HERE.
Elsewhere, Gordon Elliott has confirmed a historic Grand National hat-trick remains his plan for Tiger Roll, despite owner Michael O'Leary saying earlier this month that the chances of him lining up under top weight at Aintree next year were "slim to none." Tiger Roll is currently injured, with Elliott suggesting the star nine-year-old could go straight to the Cheltenham Festival, however a bid for an unprecedented three-in-a-row remains on the cards. Elliott said: "The Randox Grand National is the plan. Michael O'Leary owns him. He makes the final decision. In my mind it's the race I'm training him for. He carried 11-5 last year. We know he'll be topweight. We're not stupid. It's just how much the weights are compressed. The handicapper has got his job to do, and I'm sure he's going to be fair with everyone. He had 11-5 last year. Would he have won with 5lb more then? He probably would."
In today's rugby statistics column John O'Sullivan has looked at Munster's start to the season and the impact Australian coach Stephen Larkham has had on their attacking game. And he writes that the Larkham effect could be seen in last Saturday's draw with Racing 92: "Over the past three seasons on the opening weekend of the Champions Cup, Munster have played away from home before returning to Thomond Park for the second set of fixtures. Ostensibly the easiest point of comparison is the two matches against Racing 92 last Saturday and in 2017. The number of passes jumped from 85 to 178, and in terms of defenders beaten from seven to 30."
And in her column this morning Joanne O'Riordan has asked if women's football could be heading in the same direction as the men's game, with another era of Dublin dominance looming. She writes: "Having amassed 21-75 in just six games and only conceding 5-41, the writing was on the wall for a lot of teams who faced Dublin. . . With the rise of investment, both financial and resources, and as groups begin to form at the top in the elite quarter, will women's sports become as semi-predictable as that of men?"
