Soccer
Liverpool put one foot into the Champions League group stages last night, with a 2-1 playoff win in their first leg in Hoffenheim.
It was the club who finished fourth in the Bundesliga last season’s first home defeat in 16 months. Young right back Trent Alexander-Arnold got the scoring underway with a beautiful free-kick, while a deflected James Milner cross doubled the Reds lead in the second half. Mark Uth set up a tense finish when Liverpool’s shaky defence tried - and failed - to play offside in the 87th minute. But Jurgen Klopp’s team held on for the win.
Everton last night agreed a deal worth up to €49.3m for Swansea playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Icelandic playmaker will undergo a medical on Wednesday.
GAA
Tipperary GAA is mourning the loss of one of its most decorated hurlers with the news that Liam Devaney passed away on Tuesday after a short illness at the age of 82. A member of the great team of the 1960s he won five All-Ireland medals. He was named Caltex Hurler of the Year in 1961.
In his column this morning Darragh Ó Sé says Kerry have more room to improve than Mayo, and tips his native county to win Sunday's semi-final;
“Let everybody else write songs for Mayo and wish them all the best. But not at your expense. In that dressing room in Killarney, that would be driven home all week. “Look lads, they’re going to win eventually. Not against us, right?”
Sean Moran believes that Austin Gleeson's escape from a disciplinary charge (and ban) for interfering with the helmet of Cork's Luke Meade, undermines the GAA's welfare rules.
“No one wants players to miss out on big occasions . . . but would games be possible without rules and the agreement of both teams to abide by them?”
Rugby
Meanwhile John O'Sullivan has been explaining the contrast between a resilient Ireland and a high flying France going into Thursday's seminal Women's World Cup pool decider.
