The feelgood factor around Denmark’s recent footballing renaissance has cranked up a notch following their World Cup play-off pairing with the Republic of Ireland, admits Danish Eurosport commentator Peter Piil.

The madcap annual clamber up the sides of a fast-eroding mountain, which to outsiders must seem slightly bonkers, claimed its usual list of casualties, from heart attacks to head injuries, writes Catherine Shanahan. 

Jose Mourinho bemoaned an offside goal after Manchester United’s Europa League campaign got off to a losing start against Feyenoord last night.

It's official; the next Battlefield title will be released in 2016.

If anyone still needs convincing that the so-called political representatives haven’t betrayed the people of Gaza, then the report by Steen Lau Jorgensen, the World Bank’s director for the region should once and for all highlight the criminal behaviour of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

Gaza’s economy is in a worse state than any other in the world, with unemployment at a global high, output contracting sharply, and the long-term prospects worrying, the World Bank said.

IF Percy French’s venerable sparring partners Abdul Abulbul Amir and Ivan Skavinsky Skavar still get together for a Christmas jaw-wag, to talk about old, old times when men were men, “when that son of the desert, in battle aroused, could spit 20 men on his spear”, it’s hard to think that those noble cuirassiers would go anywhere other than a proper, belt-stretching steakhouse.

Variety on offer at the Ib Jorgensen Collection, writes Des OSullivan.

Celtic 1 Elfsborg 0

Club Brugge 2 Newcastle 2

Club Brugge 2 Newcastle 2

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew made eight changes as the Magpies attempted to edge closer to the knock-out stages of the Europa League in Belgium.

Newcastle 1 Club Brugge 0

Shamrock Rovers are looking to move a step closer to a place in the Champions League group stages tonight as FC Copenhagen visit the Tallaght Stadium at 7.45pm.

SHAMROCK ROVERS came into last night’s Champions League qualifier knowing they were facing formidable opposition in Copenhagen, a team studded with full internationals and players with knockout stage experience of Europe’s biggest competition.

Colin Howell's US-born wife may be questioned again by detectives who re-opened the investigation into the deaths of his first wife and PC Trevor Buchanan, it was revealed today

CHELSEA captain John Terry has no doubts that his team-mates are 100% behind under-fire manager Carlo Ancelotti and wants them to ‘man up’ and prove their critics wrong by winning the Champions League this season.

JAPAN booked their place in the last 16 of the World Cup after outstanding first-half free-kicks from Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo sent them on their way to victory over Denmark in Rustenburg.

DENMARK may have got the three points that put their World Cup campaign back on track, but defender Daniel Agger felt that was one of the few positives his side could take from their 2-1 victory over Cameroon.

LIVERPOOL captain Steven Gerrard reflected on his team’s Champions League campaign and admitted it had been “not good enough” after the Reds’ involvement in the competition finished with a 2-1 home defeat to Fiorentina at Anfield last night.

LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez conceded his side’s first-half performance left them with too much as his side went down in Florence last night.

Manchester City 2 FC Copenhagen 1 (City win 4-3 on aggregate)

Denmark 0 Wales 1

Galway United 1 Shamrock Rovers 1

RANGERS kept their European and quadruple dreams alive after another Ibrox shutout put them within sight of the UEFA Cup final.

REFEREES are often criticised, but rarely do they have to defend their sleeping habits. After being rounded-on by Stoke boss Tony Pulis, match official Mike Pike found himself doing just that.

DAVID MOYES was left distraught as his battling Everton side exited the UEFA Cup following a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

The gunman who killed eight people in a US shopping mall shooting “just snapped”, he said in a suicide note released today.

Fiorentina romped to their first UEFA Cup triumph of the Group C campaign with a crushing 6-1 success at home to Elfsborg to go top of the table.

EDINBURGH’S dream of bringing the Magners League title to Scotland for the first time was clinically demolished by the streetwise Ospreys at Murrayfield.

LAWRIE SANCHEZ fears that Northern Ireland’s rising mood of optimism in their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign could be curtailed on Wednesday.

Munster 36 Edinburgh 15

Teams for tonight's games in the Premiership, SPL and the FA Cup.

Edinburgh 30 Borders 25

Cardiff 0 Coventry 0

Leinster 13 Edinburgh 27

Edinburgh 32 Wasps 31

A US jury has decided that rock star Rod Stewart should pay a Las Vegas casino £1.1m (€1.6m) plus interest for a cancelled show.

Faroe Islands 0 Israel 2

Denmark 4 England 1