Where Manchester United would be in this year's Champions League without Cristiano Ronaldo is anyone's guess but top of Group F is certainly not the answer after the Portuguese star once again saved his side last night, this time with a late equaliser against Atalanta in Bergamo. Indeed it was the second time in the match that Ronaldo had drawn the sides level after scoring United's first right on half-time. It means Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side sit top of Group F on goal difference but with work still to do to reach the last-16 from what is a very compact group. Next they face Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday and it looks like they will do so without Raphael Varane who went off with a hamstring injury last night. Meanwhile, Mary Hannigan writes that Succession isn't a patch on Manchester United for drama these days. Elsewhere, Chelsea finally got the better of a stubborn Malmo side thanks to Hakim Ziyech after a shrewd tactical change by Thomas Tuchel. Tonight, Atlético Madrid travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool in the pick of the games with Jordan Henderson encouraging the home crowd to give Luis Suarez a warm welcome.
Moving to rugby and Johnny Sexton is set to win his 100th Ireland cap on Saturday against Japan, an achievement which had him yesterday looking back on his introduction to the Ireland squad back in 2009. "I'll never forget lining up for the anthem and obviously it's strange getting your first cap in the RDS but I remember going: 'What did I do to deserve getting my first cap in this weather?' But thankfully we put in a good performance and a good win," he said. Meanwhile, Gordon D'Arcy writes in his column this morning that more provincial players should be playing club rugby as a way to develop and grow in a less pressurised environment. "For me the message is simple, we need to encourage and develop skills at the earliest touch point, and by doing that the club game can then assume its rightful place as an integral and vital pathway in the Irish rugby ecosystem," he writes.
On to boxing and Bernard Dunne has made a formal complaint to the IABA about an anonymous document which he says undermined him and the high-performance unit ahead of this year's Tokyo Olympic Games, reports Johnny Watterson. Dunne's letter contends that the IABA board was presented with a copy of the unsigned document and are aware of the nature of its contents. It adds that the purpose of the document was to inflict as much reputational damage as possible on Dunne.
In GAA, the death has occurred of former Dublin All-Ireland winner Dessie Ferguson aged 91. The St Vincent's man was part of the victorious 1958 Dublin team and also played in the 1961 All-Ireland hurling final as a dual player before moving to Meath where his son Terry won two All-Irelands with the Royal County. Meanwhile, in his column this morning, Seán Moran writes that the Dergvale Hotel deserves a special place in GAA history as the spot where Michael Cusack lived and wrote his letters inviting people to the inaugural meeting of the association more than a century ago.
