The Morning Sports Briefing

Manchester City into Champions League last four, Peter O’Mahony out of South Africa tour and what to watch out for

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini celebrates after the game. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters

Soccer

Manchester City last night progressed to their first ever Champions League semi-final - although the night belonged to a former United man as Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick rescued Real Madrid's season.

City came into last night’s second leg against PSG with the away goal advantage after a 2-2 draw in Paris, and despite another impressive performance a missed Sergio Aguero penalty had them sweating right up until the 76th minute - when Kevin De Bruyne sealed a 1-0 win, and the tie.

Meanwhile the Bernabeu heaved a sigh of relief after Real turned around their first leg 2-0 deficit against Wolfsburg, with a Ronaldo inspired 3-0 second leg win.

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Tonight Catalan giants Barcelona look to join them in the last four, they play Atletico Madrid while in the fourth quarter-final second leg Bayern Munich look to finish the job off against Benfica.

There's also FA Cup action tonight - with Manchester United taking on West Ham with a place in the last four up for grabs. United manager Louis van Gaal, still fuming with his team's latest setback last weekend against Tottenham, is demanding better communication from his centre-backs with an in-form Andy Carroll to deal with.

Rugby: South Africa Tour

Irish head coach Joe Schmidt looks set to be without flanker Peter O'Mahony for the tour to South Africa in June, with Munster coach Anthony Foley saying he expects it to be September before his captain returns to competitive action.

That tour will be the first outing for the newly appointed South African head coach Allister Coetzee - he was confirmed yesterday afternoon.

He will have to quickly come to terms with the weight of South Africa's apartheid history which will bear down on his team selection and his resulting choices will be scrutinised like never before - with pressure mounting to give more black players a chance.

MMA

Yesterday the MMA world, and far beyond, were rocked by the news that Portuguese fighter Joao Carvalho had died from injuries sustained at an event in Dublin last weekend.

For Johnny Watterson, this was "the inevitable result of giving freedom of expression to warriors where extreme ferocity is permitted...

“There is no precedent in organised sport where punching a defenceless opponent nine times on the ground when he has collapsed but conscious is acceptable. It is crossing the line.”

What to watch out for

It's set to be a famous night at Upton Park - West Ham Utd and Manchester Utd's FA Cup replay will be the last ever Cup tie at the ground.

BBC 1 from 7pm

Atletico Madrid are at home, but 2-1 down on aggregate against Barcelona tonight.

RTE 2 from 7.30pm

BT Sport Europe from 7pm

Benfica also has home advantage against Bayern Munich, but they also come into their second leg trailing (1-0).

BT Sport 2 from 7pm

Setanta from 7.30pm