Prepare for tears if Tiger Roll supplies a fairytale finale to his superb career at the Cheltenham festival today. In the feature race, Shishkin is a rare championship favourite for a home side that has been under the cosh in the races that ultimately decide the final pecking order. For a second year in a row Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle won the Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham yesterday and even by festival standards got a reception for the ages. Follow our live blog of the day two action with Malachy Clerkin on The Irish Times' sport homepage from 1pm.
Manchester United's final - albeit at the start of the season their most unlikely - chance of winning silverware this season ended with last night's 1-0 defeat to Atlético Madrid. The Spanish club progress to the last eight of the Champions League after showing plenty of grit and defensive resolve at Old Trafford. As for United - trailing to Renan Lodi's goal before half-time, they were charged with prising Atlético apart in the second half and they barely threatened. Benfica grabbed a shock 1-0 victory away at Ajax to secure a surprise quarter-final place. Chelsea have withdrawn a request for Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final at Middlesbrough to be played behind closed doors after causing disbelief in the sport and in Downing Street with their desperate push for permission to sell tickets.
In his column this morning Gordon D'Arcy explains why the penny needs to drop for coaches and players when it comes to high tackles. England were reduced to 14 players after less than two minutes at Twickenham on Saturday after Charlie Ewels high tackle which also ended James Ryan's match: "Once the outcome was decided and the final whistle blew there was little acknowledgement for the players leaving the pitch and instead the debate turned to how the red card had ruined an evening out in south west London."
Meanwhile, Henrik Stenson has won the race to be named as Europe's captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup, pipping Luke Donald to the post after giving sufficient assurances regarding his rejection of the Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway tour.
