The Republic of Ireland host Gibraltar on Monday evening knowing nothing but victory is acceptable after a disappointing start to their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
Friday night’s 2-1 defeat in Greece left Ireland pointless in Group B after two fixtures and seriously dented their hopes of making it to the finals.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the talking points surrounding a must-win game.
Kenny cornered?
Ireland boss Stephen Kenny once again finds himself at a crossroads three years into his reign. The 51-year-old’s 23 competitive matches in charge to date have yielded just four victories – against Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Scotland and Armenia – and a campaign towards which he has been building since replacing Mick McCarthy looks to have slipped from his grasp already. He has set great store by introducing youthful talent to his the squad and playing a progressive brand of football, but wins have largely eluded him and the Republic were dismantled by a slick Greece outfit ranked three places below them by FIFA.
The case for the defence
Successive Republic managers have built their teams on solid defensive foundations which made them difficult to beat. But they can no longer rely on the likes of Richard Dunne, John O’Shea and Shane Duffy and with Seamus Coleman injured and Dara O’Shea short of football, Kenny handed John Egan, Nathan Collins and Darragh Lenihan the task of keeping the Greeks out with support from wing-backs Matt Doherty and Callum O’Dowda. However, midfielder schemers Tasos Bakasetas and Giorgos Masouras combined with striker Vangelis Pavlidis provided a tough test. They will hope for a quieter evening against Gibraltar.
The middle ground
Burnley’s Josh Cullen has been hugely impressive in his country’s midfield engine room for much of his international career, while Kenny’s former Under-21s skipper Jayson Molumby has brought energy and bite to the midfield and Will Smallbone shone on his debut against Latvia in March. However, they were overrun at the OPAP Arena with Cullen and Molumby unable to provide the security for Smallbone to link with the frontmen. Kenny is likely to shuffle his pack on Monday evening in the search for greater invention, and that could mean roles for Jason Knight and Mikey Johnston.
Seventh heaven for McClean?
James McClean will become the seventh man after Robbie Keane, Shay Given, John O’Shea, Kevin Kilbane, Steve Staunton and Damien Duff, to win 100 caps for the Republic of Ireland and will wear the captain’s armband as a result. The 34-year-old igan midfielder made his debut as a substitute against the Czech Republic in February 2012 and is a veteran of the Euro 2012 and 2016 finals. He has contributed important goals along the way, in particular World Cup qualifier winners in both Austria and Wales.
Roaring forties
Gibraltar manager Jose Ribas has worked hard to bring a new generation of players through in his five years at the helm – 18-year-old midfielder Nicholas Pozo is a good example – but is still able to call upon vast experience. The team which started Friday night’s 3-0 home defeat by France included 40-year-old defender Roy Chipolina and 41-year-old striker Lee Casciaro.
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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