Every morning TheScore serves up the sports stories you need to be across before your first cup of coffee.
1. #CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Chelsea booked their spot in the quarter-finals with a dramatic extra-time victory over Napoli at a rocking Stamford Bridge last night.
The Blues went into Wednesday’s last-16 tie 3-1 down on aggregate after defeat in Naples, but triumphed 4-1 following extra time at Stamford Bridge to secure passage to the next round. And it was the old men of Didier Drogba, John Terry and Frank Lampard who forced the extra 30 minutes with a goal each before Branislav Ivanovic hit the winner.
The draw will be made tomorrow at UEFA HQ, and Chelsea could well face Jose Mourinho after Real Madrid saw off CSKA Moscow.
2. #CHELTENHAM It’s all about the Labrokes World Hurdle today and Big Buck’s. Paul Nicholls’ horse is going for a fourth success in a row at the Festival. Who do you fancy?
It was a dramatic day at Prestbury Park yesterday with falls, controversial finishes and some racing too. We’ll go furlong-by-furlong again this afternoon, but in the meantime, you can download your daily office sweeps kit here.
3. #GAA All-Ireland U-21 football champions Galway were knocked out of the Connacht championship by Mayo last night. They lost on a scoreline of 1-14 to 0-15 after extra time. Kerry, who finished with 13 men in their Munster quarter-final at Semple Stadium, still had enough to see off Tipperary, 0-11 to 0-5. Elsewhere in Munster, Clare booked a provincial semi-final date with Cork thanks to a 2-7 to 0-10 win over Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds. In Ulster, Tyrone were too strong for Fermanagh at Brewster Park, ultimately running out 1-14 to 1-3 winners.
4. #BOXING Dereck Chisora yesterday had his boxing license revoked by the British Boxing Board of Control, according to his promoter Frank Warren. Chisora had already been banned indefinitely as a result of his recent brawl with David Haye, and was called before the BBBC. And Warren told reporters: “His licence got withdrawn and what will happen now is we’ll consider whether to appeal the decision.”
5. #EUROPA LEAGUE Both Manchester clubs are trailing as they go into tonight’s second-leg games. United take on Bilboa in Spain, hoping to overturn a 2-3 first-leg deficit while City welcome Sporting Lisbon, needing to win by a two-goal margin.
6. #HOCKEY Ireland take on Chile at Belfield this evening (6pm) as they bid to keep their Road to London tilt on track. Group rivals Malaysia and South Korea face off before that.
