The 2-2 draw with Austria on Tuesday evening was bitterly disappointing and left the players visibly demoralised at the final whistle.

Keith Andrews, looking on from afar because of injury, on the urgent need to make the most of the result in Sweden with a winning performance against Austria tonight.

The Ireland midfielder on how an enforced lay-off through injury has helped reinforce his conviction that a player should always be mindful of the day the final whistle blows.

As I sat on my sofa on Tuesday evening for the much hyped and eagerly anticipated second leg between Manchester United and Real Madrid, I spotted a very familiar face as Nemanja Vidic and Sergio Ramos met in the centre circle for the traditional coin toss — it was none other than my good friend, Cuneyt Cakir, the referee who sent me off in the final few minutes of our match against Italy in Poznan at Euro 2012.

Grass isn’t always greener — you hear this saying quite a lot in the football world and, in the case of Wolverhampton Wanderers, it’s probably something that has run through the owners’ mind a gazillion times since their decision to relieve Mick McCarthy of his very successful tenure as the manager in February of last year — especially when they are now a further three managers down the line and, going into last night’s game against Watford, in the bottom three of the Championship.

It’s not only Arsenal who are being handed out lessons by the revitalised German giants.

This week we saw the Champions League resume after its winter break with some mouth-watering fixtures as the competition came down to the last 16 teams.

Our columnist reflects on a worthwhile outing against Poland and being named Ireland’s player of the year.

Our columnist on the departure of Mario Balotelli and the extraordinary non-transfer of Peter Odemwingie

Injuries are as much a battle of the mind as the body