Dundalk take on Premier League giants Arsenal in their second Europa League group stage match tonight, aiming for one of Irish soccer's great upsets. However Dundalk manager Filippo Giovagnoli believes the pressure is off his team: "it's obvious that it is like a heavyweight boxer against a super-lightweight. Right? So, we just need to try to make them uncomfortable, a little bit." Also in the Europa League tonight, Celtic travel to Lille, and Leicester, Rangers and Spurs are all in action. Last night, Marcus Rashford came off the bench to score a hat-trick in Manchester United's 5-0 Champions League thrashing of RB Leipzig. Earlier Hakim Ziyech pulled the strings and scored his first goal for Chelsea in their 4-0 win over FK Krasnodar, and elsewhere Barcelona overcome Juventus 2-0 in Turin.
Robbie Henshaw replaces the injured Garry Ringrose with Chris Farrell taking his place among the replacements in the only changes to Ireland's side and match-day 23 for Saturday's Six Nations clash with France. When naming his team Andy Farrell admitted Ireland are wary of the potent threat of French scrumhalf Antoine Dupont. Patrick Madden has put together an excellent guide explaining who needs to do what to win the 2020 Six Nations - Ireland need a bonus point win to guarantee the title. John O'Sullivan though explains why we have found bonus territory hard to come by against the best teams.
Ahead of the start of the 2020 football championship this weekend, Eamon Donoghue explains in his GAA Statistics column why Tyrone need former AFL player Conor McKenna inside and out to get the better of Donegal: "In the space of two games McKenna has become the fulcrum of Tyrone's attack, scoring or directly assisting 5-10 of 5-27 since his return to Gaelic football. A goal machine and a pass master, the challenge for Tyrone is how they can best exploit both attributes as the Ulster championship's blanket defences await." Sonia O'Sullivan's column this morning is from her strict hotel quarantine in Australia: "It's too early to even start thinking about counting down the days, only something more discreet, like half a lemon every day. So days are passed with the arrival of food bags outside your door, a bit like a lucky dip; some days are good some days the bag goes straight back out the door."
Meanwhile, the stage 8 finish of the Vuelta a España on Wednesday was unquestionably the toughest so far, with Dan Martin collapsing off his bike just beyond the finish, before being assisted by his medical team. The Irish rider remains third overall, still just 28 seconds behind the race lead.
