Manchester United moved a step closer to the knockout stages of the Champions League last night, as they beat Istanbul Basaksehir 4-1 at Old Trafford. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave starts to Edison Cavani and Donny van de Beek in an attacking line-up but as ever it was Bruno Fernandes who proved the catalyst, the Portuguese opening the scoring after seven minutes with a fine half-volley. Another Fernandes goal and a Marcus Rashford penalty put the game to bed before half-time, with Daniel James making it four at the death. United sit top of Group H and need one point to progress. Chelsea meanwhile are through to the last-16 thanks to a 2-1 win over Rennes in yesterday's earlier kick-off, Olivier Giroud scoring an injury-time winner in a week where speculation over his Stamford Bridge future has been rife. There were also wins for Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona. Tonight, Manchester City travel to play Olympiakos (5.55pm) while Liverpool welcome Atalanta to Anfield (8pm).
"They could still be out there and the score would still be 18-7." That is Gordon D'Arcy's assessment of Ireland's attacking performance in last weekend's defeat to England at Twickenham. And in this morning's column, he has stressed Ireland need to get the basics right after they were tactically exposed by Eddie Jones's side and their ferocious defence. He writes: "The coaching in camp will come under severe criticism until they fix the basics. I know what Joe would do. I know what Cheika would do." Meanwhile Andy Farrell will definitely be without both Johnny Sexton and Robbie Henshaw for this weekend's final Nations Cup group game against Georgia at the Aviva Stadium (Sunday November 29th, kick-off 2pm). Eric O'Sullivan has been drafted into the squad as cover for the injured Ed Byrne but there will be no further additions to the 34-strong party.
In his column this morning Darragh Ó Sé has congratulated Tipperary and Cavan for their already famous Munster and Ulster title wins last weekend - before rolling his sleeves up to examine the beaten finalists, Cork and Donegal. And his assessment of the performances of both is fairly damning: "The reality is that Cork and Donegal will both take a long time before they forgive themselves for Sunday. They were both beaten by the better team on the day. But they will know themselves that shouldn't have been the case. They were both outfought and outsmarted and they have nobody to blame but themselves." Meanwhile Seán Moran has looked at the parallels between this year's Championship and the 1920 All-Ireland, in the wake of last weekend's 100th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. A centenary weekend which "live in the sporting memory though for the events of Sunday afternoon," he writes.
Elsewhere Willie Mullins' former star mare Laurina was retired yesterday, following a disappointing performance at Ascot last weekend. New trainer Paul Nicholls confirmed the Cheltenham Festival winner had bled after that race and will now head to the Tattersalls Ireland sale on December 14th. Meanwhile Gordon Elliott's prodigious novice chaser Envoi Allen will be the star attraction as he bids for Grade 1 glory over fences at Fairyhouse on Sunday.
And former France and Stade Francais star Christophe Dominici has died suddenly at the age of 48. Dominici was capped 67 times for Les Bleus, and scored a memorable try in their famous win over the All Blacks at the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
