Liverpool's Champions League hopes took a major dent last night, as they were beaten 3-1 away from home by Real Madrid in the first leg of their quarter-final tie. Zinedine Zidane's side were utterly dominant in the first-half, with goals from Junior Vinicius and Marco Asensio giving them a 2-0 lead at the interval. Mohamed Salah gave the visitors a lifeline in the 51st minute before Junior Vinicius restored his side's two-goal cushion, leaving the 13-times winners in the driving seat. Elsewhere a late Phil Foden strike gave Manchester City a 2-1 win against Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad. City took the lead through Kevin De Bruyne before 17-year-old Jude Bellingham's equaliser was bizarrely ruled out before half-time. Marco Reus levelled the tie in the 84th minute but Foden's late strike restored City's advantage. In tonight's other last-eight ties, Bayern Munich welcome PSG to the Allianz Arena while Chelsea play their away leg against Porto in Seville (kick-off 8pm).
Leinster take on defending European champions Exeter this weekend, with the Pro14 winners travelling to Sandy Park for a daunting Champions Cup last-eight tie. The Irish province head into the fixture on the back of two weeks off after they were awarded a bye against Toulon - Exeter meanwhile showed composure and clarity as they went 14-0 down against Lyon before running out 47-25 winners. And in his column this morning Gordon D'Arcy is under no illusions of the size of the task facing an under-strength Leinster side: "The way they [Exeter] play demands an enormous work rate by players off the ball and all the fundamental skills on it. The third person arriving at a ruck is the scrumhalf. The way they play requires months, years even of dedicated drills. I expect a throwback to Hagler versus Hearns in the opening exchanges at Sandy Park. The trick is to stay in the fight because Exeter will score tries." With the likes of Garry Ringrose and James Ryan missing makes Leinster slight underdogs, but regardless, D'Arcy writes: "The game of the season is coming."
The US Masters is almost upon us, with the opening Major of the 2021 calendar to get underway at Augusta National tomorrow. It has been a relatively poor season for Rory McIloy so far - by his high standards - and he is bidding to shake off some indifferent form and claim his first Green Jacket this week. But the four-time Major winner believes the Masters is simply a stepping stone on his 'journey' to become the game's undisputed number one once again: "It's a journey, and it's a journey to try to get back to playing the game the way I know that I can play the game. So obviously this week is very important but I'm still looking beyond that. I'm just at the start of a journey here that I know will get me back to where I want to be." The tee times for the opening two rounds of play were announced yesterday, with McIlroy teeing off alongside Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele at 3.42pm on Thursday, and 6.48pm on Friday (Irish time). Shane Lowry meanwhile is joined by Justin Rose and Matt Kuchar at 5.48pm on Thursday and 2.36pm on Friday.
Elsewhere in his column this morning Seán Moran has reflected on the controversy surrounding the Dublin footballers, after they were pictured breaking Covid-19 restrictions with an early-morning training session last week. And, he believes, "the scale of the poor judgment and decision making is epic. . . To have decided to proceed with a gathering just hours after Government had given the long-awaited go-ahead for intercounty training to return and the GAA had issued an exhortation to counties not to cut corners little more than two weeks before the permitted start - was extraordinary."
Ireland women are to meet at Abbotstown on Thursday before heading to Wales for their opening fixture of the 2021 Six Nations at the Cardiff Arms Park. This will be just their second Test match since February 2020 and the 5pm kick-off time means it will clash with Leinster's game against Exeter, writes Gavin Cummiskey.
And Ken Doherty's Crucible dream is over for another year, after the 1997 world champion was beaten 5-4 in qualifying by Wales's Lee Walker after throwing away a 4-1 lead.
