Ireland U21 3 Holland U21 0

Chelsea are set to back both a wage increase cap and a compromise financial fair play deal at today’s showdown meeting of all 20 Premier League chairmen.

David Beckham has a knack for keeping his name in the news and his face — and well-sculpted body — in front of the cameras.

This afternoon’s U21 friendly against Holland at Tallaght Stadium (1pm) offers new beginnings for many Irish youngsters and Sean McGinty appreciates the chance presented to him by Noel King.

Robin van Persie has claimed he is working with one of the best coaches in the world at Manchester United — but he’s not talking about Alex Ferguson.

Robbie Brady says his circle with boyhood team-mate Jeff Hendrick will be complete tomorrow night should the pair feature for Ireland against Greece.

England skipper Steven Gerrard has hailed the performance and discipline shown by Wayne Rooney in helping secure a vital point from the World Cup qualifier with Montenegro in Podgorica on Tuesday night.

The backdrop to last night’s events in Dublin had been a negative one, despite the Stockholm result, focused as it was on past defeats to Austria who have found encounters with Ireland, more often than not, to their liking.

Jose Mourinho remains committed to Real Madrid this season, but the former Chelsea boss feels he will “naturally” return to manage in England one day.

Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has set his sights on matching Chelsea’s Premier League record points haul.

The most expensive football transfer in Irish history was agreed on Friday. Understandably, you may have missed it.

Former soccer star Paul Gascoigne wants to get back to reality after the latest “horrific” health scare in his battle with alcohol addiction, he said.

There was a painful inevitability about Arsenal and Chelsea releasing their last Irish players recently, continuing a trend which adversely reflects on this country’s reputation for producing talent capable of cutting it at the very top level.

On the eve of this excellent Irish performance, Sweden’s main man had insisted there was no difference between his displays for his country and his club.

San Marino 0 England 8

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson escaped with a slap on the wrist from UEFA after his no-show at a post-match press conference following the Champions League exit to Real Madrid.

Real Madrid 1 Manchester United 1

Given the feverish intensity of the media build-up to last night in the Santiago Bernabeu, it would have taken something of the order of Brazil beating Italy in the 1970 World Cup final for this match to have fully lived up to its extravagant billing.

A Europol report last week claimed that 380 soccer games in Europe and 680 worldwide were ‘suspicious’. Match-fixing has tainted the world’s most popular sport, drawn in major crime gangs, and ruined players’ lives, writes Sheila Norman-Culp

Alex Ferguson has admitted his new Manchester United side face their “acid test” in the Bernabeu Stadium tonight.