Manchester United's third semi-final defeat of the season came against Sevilla last night as Ole Gunnar Solskjær's side missed a host of good chances to see their Europa League hopes dashed. After going ahead through a Bruno Fernandes penalty United were pegged back by Suso's strike before Luuk de Jong stole in to score the winner in the second half. Afterwards, Solskjær blamed poor finishing and the lack of experience in his youthful team for the defeat which will see Sevilla take on either Inter or Shakhtar Donetsk in the final on Friday. Meanwhile, following Barcelona's humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich on Friday night, Ken Early writes this morning that the sad truth is that Lionel Messi has become a problem for Barca. "You have that elite group consisting of Messi and friends, and then a larger transient group who aren't sure of their standing. No new player has managed to break into the elite group in years," he writes. In domestic action, St Pat's yesterday held Shamrock Rovers to a 0-0 draw to end their winning start to the season.
On to rugby and this morning Malachy Clerkin writes that the decision to keep the written press out of the Avivia stadium for this weekend's return of rugby will not help to promote the sport's return. "Week after week of games being played just to honour television contracts will get pretty old pretty sharpish," he writes. Meanwhile, in the Offload column, Gavin Cummiskey writes that last week's coronavirus case at Munster provides a taste of what lies ahead.
In golf, Shane Lowry managed to squeeze into this week's first FedEx Cup playoff event on the PGA Tour thanks to a final round of 67 at the Wyndham Championship which was won by Jim Herman. Lowry will take his place in the field for the Northern Trust alongside Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell with the top 70 in the standings next Sunday moving on to the second playoff event.
In our worst sporting moments series this morning, Seán Moran laments the decline and fall of the International Rules series which over the years became marred by unpleasant scenes on the pitch. Meanwhile, Dublin GAA is confident there will be no serious knock-on effects from having to reschedule its football championship after a Raheny player tested positive over the weekend.
Finally, Ronnie O'Sullivan racked up his sixth World Snooker Championship title at the Crucible yesterday with an 18-8 win over Kyren Wilson to move him alongside Steve Davis and just one behind the great Stephen Hendry in world title wins.
