Pep Guardiola and Ole Gunnar Solskjær have exchanged kind words ahead of tonight's Manchester derby League Cup semi-final. However, Solskjær has also called for appropriate protection from City's tactical fouling while the reigning champions' Catalan manager has said he would rather play golf than ever manage United. Tonight's League Cup semi-final first leg kicks off at Old Trafford at 8pm - the first Manchester derby of the decade. Last night Arsenal survived a first half onslaught to beat Leeds 1-0 in their FA Cup third-round match at the Emirates Stadium - Reiss Nelson scored the goal in a vastly improved second half display. Click here to read about last night's FA Cup fourth round draw, where Manchester City will host Fulham and league leaders Liverpool will travel to take on the winners of Bristol City and Shrewsbury.
Munster outhalf Joey Carbery has suffered a wrist ligament injury which is likely to rule him out of the Six Nations entirely. The injury-cursed outhalf apparently suffered his latest mishap during Munster's 38-17 defeat to Ulster last Friday in what was his first start for the province this season. In his column this morning, Gerry Thornley explains how Ulster's Stuart McCloskey is beating at Andy Farrell's door, but the logjam at Ireland's inside centre is an obstacle: "with Ringrose and Farrell in the mix, in order to pick McCloskey, Ireland would have to omit both Aki and Henshaw."
Australian Football League (AFL) club Adelaide Crows confirmed they have secured a pre-season trial for Tyrone All Star forward Cathal McShane later this month. Joint top-scorer in the 2019 All-Ireland championship with his 3-48, McShane's exit would represent a major loss to Tyrone in 2020. Borris-Ileigh forward Conor Kenny - the team vice-captain who produced a man-of-the-match display in their All-Ireland hurling club semi-final against St Thomas' last Sunday - says his team are ready to take on reigning champions Ballyhale Shamrocks in Sunday week's final: "It's the stuff of dreams to go there with your club, especially this team. I never thought at the start of the year we would have ended up in Croke Park. I would have thought you were mad if you told me that, but that's how things have worked out and we're just delighted."
Meanwhile in this week's Pay for Play pages, Ruaidhrí Croke explains how new channel LaLiga TV is hoping to reignite Spanish football in Ireland and the UK by showing every match live at individual times. The 24-hour channel called LaLiga TV – owned and operated by the league itself – will launch in Ireland as part of Premier Sports' package on January 29th.
