Soccer
A Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick gave Real Madrid a 3-0 first leg advantage in their Champions League semi-final against rivals Atlético Madrid last night.
The Portuguese attacker bagged his 103rd Champions League goal, more than Atlético have ever scored, as the reigning champions all but booked their place in the decider in Cardiff.
Tonight Juventus and Monaco meet in the other semi-final, and Paulo Dyabala will be the key man for the Italian champions. His two goals against Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final took his tally in the competition to four in seven starts this campaign.
“In a team that is very structured and defensively very sound, he is the spark, the player who can do something to unlock a game.”
Rugby
Gordon D'Arcy believes the Champions Cup semi-final loss to Clermont can be a springboard for Leinster, just as the Toulouse defeat was for the 2006 crop.
“Leinster didn’t win anything in 2006 or 2007. In 2008, we captured the Celtic League but it took another season before we reached a Heineken Cup final. But a similar-looking journey has started again.”
GAA
In his column this morning Seán Moran explains how the GAA status quo is doing nothing for weaker counties. A graded competition, he says, is the only way to provide meaningful games for the less successful teams.
“The question for Croke Park is whether the football championship is meant to be an inclusive opportunity for everyone to compete and for the counties affected and their players, is the status quo really that desirable?”
Golf
Meanwhile the R&A and the USGA – golf's rules governing bodies – are upping the war on slow play, now focusing their attention on the increasingly sophisticated and detailed mapping booklets which players on the main tours use at different tour stops.
Their new approach won’t, though, be in operation at this week’s tour stops, the Wells Fargo championship on the PGA Tour or the GolfSixes tournament on the European Tour.
