Advantage Barcelona; Masters countdown is nearly over

It's advantage Barcelona after last night's Champions League quarter-final first leg at Old Trafford. The Catalan club were 1-0 winners over Manchester United thanks to a Luis Suarez header that was deflected off Luke Shaw into David De Gea's net. In the night's other quarter final first leg Ajax and Juventus played out an entertaining 1-1 draw with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the crucial away goal. Tonight both Arsenal (vs Napoli) and Chelsea are in Europa League action. At home, the Football Association of Ireland needs to think about "regime change" and board members stepping down, the chairman of the Oireachtas committee has said. Read more on that story here, and click here for Emmet Malone's analysis article on a deeply damaging day for the FAI's institutional reputation.

The countdown to the Masters is almost over, from 2pm today you can follow all the first round action with The Irish Times liveblog. For a fifth time Rory McIlroy is looking to add a green jacket to his Claret Jug, US Open trophy and Wanamaker trophy, and Philip Reid explains he will rely on the three Ps of patience, perception and perseverance. In his column, Colin Byrne explains that getting your golfer to embrace both the physical and mental challenge is the key for caddies this week.

Ahead of the weekend's Pro14 action Jacob Stockdale says he will definitely dive for his next try. In Ulster's Champions Cup defeat to Leinster the Irish winger dropped the ball over the line, in what was a momentum-shifting moment in the game. "I'll definitely be diving for the next try, no doubt. It's one of those things that once somebody makes a mistake, and unfortunately it was me, it's highlighted a lot more."

Meanwhile in her column this morning, Sonia O'Sullivan writes The Daily Mile should be in every school: "we can all move and be active when we want to, but the ability to ingrain that desire to be active for just a minimum 15 minutes every day from a young age is a skill for life. It's something we all need to grasp and share and never let go of."