Republic of Ireland Under-21s’ hopes of qualifying for the 2025 Euro finals suffered a blow as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Tallaght Stadium by a Latvia team who had previously failed to pick up any points away from home during their campaign.

The Irish took the lead on 16 minutes when Rocco Vata pounced on a wayward Latvia pass and played the ball through to Sinclair Armstrong, whose initial shot was well saved by Janis Beks, but the ball fell to him kindly and he coolly passed into the net.

The hosts were well in control and Armstrong forced the visiting keeper into a fine save, while Vata scuffed a shot wide and then crashed a shot from distance off the inside of the post.

Three minutes before the interval Latvia levelled when Adolfs Maslovs ran down the right and crossed for Kaspars Anmanis to meet the ball first time and fire past Josh Keeley.

A blundered attempted catch by Keeley in the 63rd minute left Ivans Patrikejevs to score with a simple header but two minutes later Sean Roughan equalised with a drilled finish after an excellent ball from Andy Moran.

With only one automatic qualification spot up for grabs, Jim Crawford’s side trail group leaders Italy by four points with a match in hand, with Norway two points behind the Irish in the battle for second place.

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“We’re used to that. We love to feel hard done-by. But this, legitimately, is arguably one of the very favourable teams that they could have got.”

Glasgow City have twice reached the quarter-finals, the latest in 2020, but no Scottish side has reached the 16-team group stage since it was established in the 2021-22 season.

Celtic were unseeded in the “champions path” section of Monday’s draw after winning their qualifying mini-tournament for the first time in three attempts.

Meanwhile, three top-20 clubs are guaranteed to miss out from the five “league path” ties.

Corsie pointed out that former Scotland midfielder Kim Little’s Arsenal, who are ranked seventh and thumped Scottish Women’s Premier League runners-up Rangers 6-0 in qualifying last week, face a tough game against 12th-ranked Swedes Hacken, while fourth-ranked Paris Saint-German face Juventus in ninth.

Manchester City, who have Scotland goalkeeper Sandy MacIver in their squad, will be wary of Paris FC, despite the French side being ranked nine places below in 20th, given they knocked Arsenal out in qualifying last season.

“Three of those six clubs won’t progress,” Corsie said. “And then you have Celtic, who’ve got a huge opportunity.”

Corsie said you “can’t disrespect” the fact Vorskla are five-time champions of their domestic league but added: “I massively hope Celtic put in two huge performances and I think, if they do that, they will progress and that would honestly be fantastic for the Scottish game.”

If they do, they will be joining Sam Kerr’s Bayern Munich and fellow Scotland midfielder Erin Cuthbert’s Chelsea, who automatically qualified for the group stage as champions of their respective countries along with reigning champions Barcelona and last season’s runners-up, Lyon.

Meanwhile, Scotland midfielder Caroline Weir, who scored a double for Real Madrid last week on her return from a year out through injury, also has a great opportunity to be playing in the group stage.

Spain’s runners-up, who are ranked eighth in Europe, will be strong favourites to defeat 74th-ranked Sporting Lisbon, whose squad includes former Celtic forward Jacynta Galabadaarachchi.

Aston Villa have defended their Champions League ticket prices after a backlash from supporters, and insist they must make “difficult decisions” to stay competitive.

The club were labelled “out of touch” last week after revealing they were charging up to £97 a ticket for home Champions League matches this season.

Adult tickets for their four home matches in the new 36-team league format will be £85, £94 and £97, while season-ticket holders get discounted rates of £70, £79 and £82.

The Premier League club host Bayern Munich, Bologna, Juventus and Celtic in their return to Europe’s top club competition for the first time in 41 years.

Aston Villa Supporters’ Trust (AVST) criticised the move, but president of business operations Chris Heck has outlined why the club have charged so much.

He said: “We recognise and understand the depth of passion felt amongst fans and their recent frustration around ticket pricing. Achieving our sporting ambitions while complying with financial stability regulations requires difficult decisions.

“Financial fair play (FFP) rules prohibit owners from covering shortfalls to finance this ambition, so we need to generate as much revenue as possible through sponsorships, merchandise and ticket sales to ensure that we can keep the club where it rightfully belongs – competing and winning at the top of English and European football.

“Our priority will always be to match our collective ambition while ensuring that we are able to increase stadium capacity each season and provide the best matchday experience for all our fans.”

Republic of Ireland internationals Niamh Fahey and Leanne Kiernan have signed new contracts at Liverpool.

Fahey joined the Reds in 2018 and has captained the side since 2020.

Kiernan arrived in 2021 and has scored 19 times in 47 appearances for Matt Beard’s side.

Both players were part of the Liverpool team that won the Women’s Championship title in 2022 and then secured a fourth-place finish in the WSL last season.

“I’m absolutely delighted to have another season in red. I really enjoy my time here with the club and after a brilliant last season I’m looking forward to pushing on,” Fahey told Liverpool’s website.

While the 36-year-old remains focused on prolonging her playing career, the club confirmed that Fahey will “explore opportunities to gain coaching experience alongside manager Matt Beard and his staff” during the season.

“I’m preparing for a little bit of life after football,” Fahey continued.

“The offer to do some coaching – Beardy spoke with me and I’m so grateful for this opportunity to learn off everyone and get my ideas as well how things work off the pitch.”

Kiernan suffered a serious ankle injury in the opening game of the 2022-23 WSL season.

She returned for the end of the season, scoring against West Ham and Chelsea before netting a hat-trick on the final day against Leicester City.

“It’s amazing [to sign a new contract], I love the club, I love the fans, and I love the people,” Kiernan said.

“Liverpool is home for me, I’m just really enjoying myself here.”

Former Premier League striker Nile Ranger has joined Southern League side Kettering Town.

The 33-year-old had been without a club since January 2023, last featuring as a substitute in Boreham Wood’s FA Cup loss to Everton 10 months earlier.

Prior to that he had two spells at Southend United, the first of which ended because of “reoccurring disciplinary issues”.

The former Newcastle academy graduate made his first appearance for Kettering during their 2-1 win against St Ives Town in the seventh tier on Monday.

“It was his first game, he hadn’t met the lads. He’s come in out of the cold, he’s not played for a while,” Kettering manager Richard Lavery told BBC Radio Northampton.

“You could see in the first half he was rusty, in the second half he turned up.

“There’s a lot more to come from him, he hasn’t played at those levels for nothing, has he?”

Ranger scored 25 goals in 147 appearances in the top four tiers of English football.

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Referee Chris Kavanagh was right to send Declan Rice off in Arsenal’s draw with Brighton, the Key Match Incidents panel has ruled.

The board – which reviews the big refereeing decisions in the Premier League each week – agreed the midfielder should have been dismissed.

Rice, who was already on a booking, nudged the ball away from Joel Veltman as he prepared to take a free-kick in the 49th minute of Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brighton last weekend.

It was the first red card of the England star’s career, with the panel agreeing his actions were “clear, deliberate and impactful” and a second yellow card was correct.

The panel, which unanimously backed the decision, wrote: “Rice knows what he’s doing – it’s a gentle touch, but once the referee sees it he has no choice.”

Arsenal were 1-0 up at the time after Kai Havertz’s goal, but Joao Pedro’s leveller earned Brighton a point at the Emirates.

The KMI panel is independent and made up of three former players or coaches, one Premier League representative and one from the Professional Game Match Officials Board, the referees’ body.

It also ruled the video assistant referee (VAR) was right to intervene in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s goal in Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Manchester United.

The goal was initially given but was then ruled out, with Mo Salah deemed to have been offside in the build-up.

It was the only on-pitch decision ruled to have been incorrect out of the 23 looked into for match week three.

The panel was unanimous in its support of every on-field call, except the decision not to give Crystal Palace’s Will Hughes a second yellow card in their 1-1 draw at Chelsea.

The midfielder, already on a booking, avoided a caution from referee Jarred Gillett despite pulling back Cole Palmer outside the box just after half-time.

The first caution was unanimously supported as correct, with the majority (3-2) supporting Gillett’s decision not to issue a second yellow.

However, two of the panellists argued: “Palmer is the wrong side of Hughes and has options left and right, therefore it is stopping a promising attack.”

Bellamy has demanded high standards and an adventurous style from the team he inherited from Robert Page, who was sacked in July.

That positive attitude saw Kieffer Moore put Wales ahead after just 37 seconds in Montenegro, before Harry Wilson doubled their lead with a fabulous 25-yard strike two minutes later.

But it was their battling qualities that impressed the new boss, with Bellamy declaring: “I’m extremely proud. I love this group, I really do.”

“He [Bellamy] was very happy,” added Davies.

“I think in games like that it becomes a bit more of a fight than about the quality that we are capable of.

“That’s what we did tonight; we fought, we gave our all. It was pretty tough conditions but sometimes you get just as much enjoyment out of getting through those.”

The game was originally scheduled for Montenegro’s capital Podgorica but was moved because of a sub-standard pitch at the National Stadium.

However, while Niksic’s City Stadium looked a much better surface pre-match, it soon deteriorated in torrential rain.

Davies believes the result shows the character and togetherness in the squad.

“There’s probably a million things we could have come up with that were against us tonight,” said Davies.

“On paper people might say we’re favourites and may have better players but the reality is when you come to places like this they are some of the hardest games you’ll play.

“It’s the conditions, it’s the atmosphere, it’s the travel, it’s all against you at times.

“But I think as a group we made a pact to say that we aren’t going to have any excuses and before we got here we were ready for the fight.

“You could see by the way we started we came out with loads of energy, we even tried to play some football in a similar way to what we did the other day, but I think we soon realised the conditions weren’t really there for that and we had to adapt and that’s what we did.”