Peter O'Mahony says being booed by Scottish fans was "one of the biggest compliments of my career" after he helped Ireland to a resounding Six Nations win at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Having been left out of the squad for Ireland's win over England, the Munster flanker returned to the Irish pack for a dominant victory in Edinburgh that keeps Simon Easterby's side on track for a third straight title.

And the 35-year-old was wholly unperturbed by the boos that greeted him as he exited the field while being replaced early in the second half.

"I don't know what it is," he told reporters on Sunday when asked why he relishes facing Scotland.

"It's competitive. Look, we've had the Glasgow thing [with Munster] for a long time. Every time it's a battle.

"I think someone said I got a fairly savage boo when I came off, potentially one of the biggest compliments of my career, in 111 Test matches, so thanks Murrayfield, I appreciate it."

When asked if he heard the boos at the time, O'Mahony - who also thanked Scottish fans in an Instagram post on Monday - added: "No, I didn't, but I'll take it."

O'Mahony has been one of the chief protagonists in Ireland and Scotland's rivalry in recent years and was at the centre of a fiery World Cup encounter in Paris in 2023.

He did not start any of Ireland's autumn Tests in November and said he "loved" his return to the team on Sunday as the Six Nations holders secured an 11th straight win over Scotland.

"I'm a broken record saying it's a huge honour to be picked for Ireland, but I loved that today I have to say, loved it," said the former Ireland captain.

"I thought we had a really good first half, first 10-15 minutes we spoke about our start. After the second half we felt like we were all over them so I enjoyed that."

A battle-hardened Test centurion with five Six Nations titles to his name, O'Mahony also knew better than to big up Ireland's chances with three games still remaining.

After visiting Wales on 22 February, Ireland host pre-tournament favourites France in Dublin on 8 March before finishing the campaign away to Italy a week later.

"Of course we know what's at stake," he said.

"As I spoke about [earlier], you get ahead of things and something goes wrong.

"We'll have an evening off and a few days off, then back in the camp and we've a big lead into another big game against Wales."

While the biggest prize in college hockey clearly is the national championship trophy, in one corner of the sport's landscape, that accolade has a rival: the Beanpot.

The 72nd tournament, which features Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern and Harvard, concludes Monday at TD Garden with BC facing BU in the championship game (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+).

Both teams are ranked in the top 10 in the country (BC is No. 1, BU is No. 8 in the most recent polls), but even in years when the event doesn't have national implications of that magnitude, the energy, desire and hatred boils over for the schools and their fans.

This year's final has a different twist, however. Nine of the players -- six from BC, three from BU -- were teammates at the IIHF World Junior Championship, where they won the gold medal for Team USA in January. At least one member of the Eagles or Terriers scored or assisted on all but one of the 37 goals the U.S. scored in the tournament.

Any friendships will be on hold Monday night.

"It's just understanding that you can't have any friends out there," BC freshman James Hagens told the Boston Globe last month. "You might play with them for a while. They might be your best buddies, but you just have to understand it's a hockey game, and you have to go out there and win."

BU's Cole Eiserman expressed similar sentiments. "You battle with those guys, get close to those guys, but I think we're all competitive guys," he told the Globe. "We want to win for our own school."

The teams met in a home-and-home series in January, with BC sweeping by scores of 6-2 and 2-0. But BU will gladly accept those results in exchange for a trophy-lifting win Monday night. The Terriers last won the Beanpot in 2022, while BC's most recent championship was in 2016. Northeastern has won five of the last six tournaments.

While Monday's game will not count in the Hockey East standings, conference races are heating up around the country as the selection of the NCAA tournament field nears.

The NCAA field includes the winners of the six conference tournaments -- Atlantic, Big Ten, CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East and NCHC -- and 10 at-large teams based on the PairWise rankings.

Conference tournament championship games are scheduled for March 22, with the NCAA tournament selections to be announced March 23. Regionals will be held March 27-30, with the Frozen Four on April 10 and 12 in St. Louis. Every NCAA tournament game, including the selection show, will be on ESPN networks and streamed on ESPN+.

Here's a look at where the NCAA field stands, with teams listed in order of the PairWise rankings as of Feb. 9.

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Frozen Four or bust

The head of the class this season, these teams are odds-on favorites to make it to St. Louis.

No. 1 Boston College

Record: 21-4-1, 13-3-1 Hockey East

Last week's results: Beat Northeastern 8-2; won at New Hampshire 4-2

Key games: Feb. 10 vs. BU (Beanpot championship)

No. 2 Michigan State

Record: 22-5-3, 13-4-3 Big Ten

Last week's results: Lost to Michigan 2-1; beat Michigan 6-1

Key games: Feb. 21-22 vs. Penn State

No. 3 Minnesota

Record: 21-6-3, 12-4-2 Big Ten

Last week's results: Did not play

Key games: Feb. 14-15 at Michigan; Feb. 21-22 vs. Ohio State

Safe and sound

These teams are all but assured a spot in the NCAA field as either a conference champion or via an at-large spot.

No. 4 Maine

Record: 18-5-4, 10-3-4 Hockey East

Last week's results: Tied at Providence 3-3; won at Providence 1-0 (OT)

Key games: Feb. 21 at UConn; March 7-8 at UMass

No. 5 Western Michigan

Record: 20-5-1, 13-2-1 NCHC

Last week's results: Beat St. Cloud State 4-0 and 6-1

Key games: Feb. 14-15 vs. Omaha; Feb. 21-22 at Arizona State

No. 6 Providence

Record: 16-7-5, 6-6-5 Hockey East

Last week's results: Tied Maine 3-3; lost to Maine 1-0 (OT)

Key games: Feb. 14-15 home-and-home vs. BU; Feb. 22 vs. UMass-Lowell

No. 7 Ohio State

Record: 18-8-2, 11-6-1 Big Ten

Last week's results: Won at Notre Dame 5-1 and 5-1

Key games: Feb. 21-22 at Minnesota; Feb. 27-28 vs. Michigan

No. 8 UConn

Record: 15-10-3, 8-8-3 Hockey East

Last week's results: Lost to UMass 5-4; beat UMass-Lowell 5-4 (OT)

Key games: Feb. 21 vs. Maine; Feb. 25 vs. BU

No. 9 Denver

Record: 20-7-1, 9-6-1 NCHC

Last week's results: Won at Arizona State 5-4 (OT); lost at Arizona State 6-5 (OT)

Key games: Feb. 14-15 vs. North Dakota; March 7-8 home-and-home vs. Colorado College

No. 10 Boston University

Record: 15-10-1, 10-6-1 Hockey East

Last week's results: Beat Harvard 7-1; lost at Merrimack 2-1 (OT)

Key games: Feb. 10 vs. BC (Beanpot championship); Feb. 14-15 home-and-home vs. Providence

In the field -- for now

UMass-Lowell has slipped a few notches with three losses in four games, while Michigan and Arizona State improved their standing this past weekend with splits against Michigan State and Denver, respectively.

No. 11 UMass-Lowell

Record: 14-10-3, 7-8-2 Hockey East

Last week's results: Lost to Vermont 5-3; lost at UConn 5-4 (OT)

Key games: Feb. 22 at Providence; Feb. 27-March 1 home-and-home vs. UMass

No. 12 Michigan

Record: 16-12-2, 10-9-1 Big Ten

Last week's results: Won at Michigan State 2-1; lost to Michigan State 6-1

Key games: Feb. 14-15 vs. Minnesota; Feb. 27-28 at Ohio State

No. 13 Arizona State

Record: 17-10-1, 12-6-0 NCHC

Last week's results: Lost to Denver 5-4 (OT); beat Denver 6-5 (OT)

Key games: Feb. 21-22 vs. Western Michigan; Feb. 28-March 1 at Omaha

One-bid league champs

It's looking more and more likely we'll have three one-bid leagues -- the ECAC, CCHA and Atlantic. Quinnipiac and Minnesota State are on the fringes of the at-large bubble, but if they fail to win their conference tournaments, the losses along the way seem likely to dash their at-large hopes.

Quinnipiac leads a tight ECAC race, with the top five teams within five points of each other, while Minnesota State has a solid hold on first place in the CCHA. So we're penciling the Bobcats and Mavericks in the NCAA field for now.

In the Atlantic, Sacred Heart, Holy Cross and Bentley are within one point of each other in the league standings -- although Holy Cross and Bentley have played two fewer games than Sacred Heart -- and are bunched together in the PairWise. We gave the nod to the Crusaders, who are one spot ahead of Bentley in the PairWise, but as with the other three leagues in this group, it will all come down to the conference tournament.

Quinnipiac

Record: 17-9-2, 11-4-1 ECAC (No. 15 in PairWise)

Last week's results: Beat St. Lawrence 6-1; lost to Clarkson 3-2 (OT)

Key games: Feb. 14 at Union; Feb. 28 at Clarkson

Minnesota State

Record: 20-8-2, 15-5-2 CCHA (No. 17 in PairWise)

Last week's results: Beat Augustana 4-1 and 2-1

Key games: Feb. 21-22 at Lake Superior State

Holy Cross

Record: 17-11-2, 16-4-2 Atlantic (No. 30 in PairWise)

Last week's results: Won at RIT 9-2 and 3-0

Key games: Feb. 20 vs. Bentley; Feb. 24 vs. AIC

On the bubble

Assuming there will be three conference champions outside of the top 16 in PairWise, teams below No. 13 will be out of luck in terms of grabbing an at-large NCAA bid. But the standings in this range are very tight, with positions changing with almost every result. These teams will have opportunities for key wins to gain critical PairWise capital, but the margin for error is slim.

No. 14 UMass

Record: 15-11-2, 6-8-2 Hockey East

Last week's results: Won at UConn 5-4

Key games: Feb. 14-15 home-and-home vs. BC; Feb. 27-March 1 home-and-home vs. UMass-Lowell

No. 16 Penn State

Record: 14-11-3, 5-10-3 Big Ten

Last week's results: Won at Wisconsin 2-0 and 6-2

Key games: Feb. 21-22 at Michigan State; Feb. 28-March 1 vs. Minnesota

No. 18 New Hampshire

Record: 11-12-3, 3-11-2 Hockey East

Last week's results: Lost to BC 4-2; lost to Merrimack 5-4

Key games: Feb. 14-15 at Maine; Feb. 28-March 1 home-and-home vs. BC

Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City have drawn a line under the Ballon d'Or controversy with Real Madrid ahead of their Champions League showdown.

The Spanish giants boycotted the ceremony in Paris in October in protest at City midfielder Rodri winning the award ahead of Vinícius Júnior.

The two teams face each other in the first leg of their Champions League play-off at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday. And ahead of the game, Guardiola insisted there is no ill feeling between the clubs.

"Happy for Rodri," Guardiola said, when asked for his opinion on the fall-out. "Vinícius made an extraordinary year as well. He deserved it. Like in the past when [Lionel] Messi and Cristiano [Ronaldo] were fighting for that. The subject is over."

Rúben Dias, who travelled to Paris with Rodri for the ceremony, also attempted to play down the dispute. "Being very honest I didn't spend one second thinking if it was disrespectful or not," he said.

"I was there, I celebrated with him, I was very happy for him. I didn't spend my time thinking about it."

It's the fifth time in six seasons that City and Madrid have been drawn together in the Champions League. Carlo Ancelotti's side were victorious on penalties last season while City were comfortable winners in 2023 -- winning 4-0 at the Etihad -- on their way to the treble.

This time, Guardiola has the added complication of worrying about Kylian Mbappé, as well as Vinícius, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham. The France international has scored 23 times in his first season in Madrid, including a goal in the 1-1 draw with Atlético Madrid on Sunday.

"I think it's impossible for 90 minutes or 180 minutes to control these four players," Guardiola said. "They are exceptional. So how they combine, the runners, the ability one against one, how they keep the ball. So all four, they are exceptional. Everybody knows it. So we have to reduce their involvement as much as possible. Knowing that is going to happen, accept it."

Dias, meanwhile, said Madrid should be wary of City's stars, including Erling Haaland.

"I think since I have been there the most difficult season but I am a firm believer, even in the most difficult situations, you can achieve something beautiful," the City defender said.

"We know how difficult it will be. But we have loads of guns in the dressing room and we just have to use them the right way."

Espanyol have condemned Barcelona's Mapi León for touching Daniela Caracas in the crotch area during Sunday's Catalan derby in Liga F.

León and Caracas clashed in the 15th minute of the game as they lined up at a set piece, with the Barça centre-back saying something to her opponent while briefly touching her inappropriately.

"Espanyol wish to express total condemnation at events which took place during the game which we consider unacceptable and should not pass unnoticed," a statement from the club said on Monday.

"During the match, Barça player León, in a struggle with our player, Caracas, made a gesture which violated the privacy of said player.

"At the time, Caracas did not react because of the impact caused by the situation. Later, after assimilating what happened, she became aware of the seriousness of the gesture, but chose not to react angrily to avoid a disciplinary sanction and harming the team."

Espanyol added that the incident has led to Caracas receiving insults on social media and that they are "concerned that, instead of focusing on the act itself, the media attention has been diverted to other issues unrelated to the seriousness of the action."

The club also say they have offered Caracas the club's legal team should she wish to take any action against León.

ESPN reached out to the Spanish Football Federation for comment but have yet to receive a response. Liga F said any disciplinary action corresponds completely to the federation.

The game was goalless at the time of the clash, with league leaders Barça going on to win 2-0 through late goals from Caroline Graham Hansen and Salma Paralluelo.

Spain women's coach Montse Tomé told a judge Monday she was not trying to punish Jenni Hermoso by omitting her from the national team in the fallout of the kiss by former football federation president Luis Rubiales.

Rubiales is accused of sexual assault for kissing Hermoso at the 2023 Women's World Cup final presentation ceremony, as well as of coercion for allegedly trying to convince the player to support his version of the kiss. Hermoso says she did not consent to the kiss while Rubiales denies wrongdoing and says it was consensual.

Three other former federation members are also on trial for coercion for allegedly trying to get Hermoso to downplay the kiss.

Hermoso's brother had testified last week that former team coach Jorge Vilda, one of the accused of coercion, tried to threaten Hermoso by saying that her future could be in danger if she refused to record a video together with Rubiales to make light of the incident.

Tomé, a former assistant to Vilda who took over the main coaching job shortly after the World Cup, decided not to include Hermoso in her first squad. She said at the time that the decision was made to protect the player from the media circus surrounding the case.

"It wasn't a punishment," Tomé said a couple of times while testifying at the start of the second week of the trial in Madrid. "I did not include her in the first call-up because of sporting reasons. What I said about protecting her, because of the exceptional situation that we were going through, was also part of the sporting reasons."

Tomé claimed that the attention being given by the media to the case at the time could've affected Hermoso's performance.

"Everything affects the sporting performance," Tomé said.

The other two federation officials on trial for coercion are former sports director of the Spain men's team, Albert Luque, and former head of marketing Rubén Rivera.

Rubiales is expected to testify on Tuesday. He resigned under pressure three weeks after the scandal surfaced and was banned by FIFA for three years. Rubiales had said he was the victim of a "witch hunt" by "false feminists."

Hermoso testified on the first day of the trial last week and said she "felt disrespected" by Rubiales after winning the Women's World Cup final. She said that the kiss "stained one of the happiest days of my life."

The kiss prompted outrage in Spain about the prevalence of sexism in sports and beyond.

Prosecutors, Hermoso and the Spain players' association want Rubiales jailed for two and a half years, fined 50,000 ($51,800) for damages, and banned from working as a sports official. They want the other three defendants sentenced to one and a half years in prison.

Arne Slot lost his FA Cup gamble against Plymouth Argyle, but the Liverpool manager might instead have edged closer to winning the trophies that really matter at Anfield this season by giving his star men the day off.

Make no mistake, Plymouth's giant-killing 1-0 win -- the bottom club in the Championship beating the Premier League leaders and ending all talk of a quadruple -- will be in the FA Cup highlights reel for years to come (stream a replay on ESPN+ in the U.S.). But nobody at Liverpool will worry too much about being on the wrong end of a cup shock if they conclude the season with the Premier League and Champions League trophies. They might also win the Carabao Cup, having booked a place against Newcastle United in the final on March 16.

Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool almost achieved a quadruple in 2021-22, but the heroics of that season -- Klopp's side played the maximum number of games by reaching three finals -- have already started to fade from memory because "almost" doesn't count at the biggest clubs. Klopp's side won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, but Manchester City edged them to the Premier League title, and Real Madrid defeated them 1-0 in the Champions League final in Paris.

After an FA Cup fourth-round win against Cardiff City on Feb. 6 that season, Liverpool played 28 games up to and including the Champions League final against Real on May 28. Aside from the interruption of a March international break, Liverpool played a game every weekend and midweek from the beginning of February until the end of May. They won 21 of those games, losing two and drawing five.

Liverpool came close to winning everything. Indeed, a win against Madrid and a victory, rather than a 2-2 draw, against City in April would have ensured a clean sweep of trophies, but in the end the fatigue of pushing on all four fronts proved too much.

Slot's team, who return to Premier League action with a rearranged Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park on Wednesday, will not have that to worry about now that they are out of the FA Cup. In fact, the defeat at Home Park brings more respite than you would think.

Liverpool now have a free weekend when the FA Cup fifth round is played March 1-2 -- there are no Premier League fixtures that weekend -- so they will go into their Champions League round-of-16 tie March 4-5 not having played for a week after facing Newcastle in the league on Feb. 26. Liverpool will have another free weekend on March 29, when the FA Cup quarterfinals take place. This means their star players will be able rest after international duty and will be fresh for the Merseyside derby at Anfield, which is scheduled for the following midweek.

Their home game against Tottenham Hotspur -- on semifinal weekend of April 26 -- also won't need to be moved to a vacant midweek. With Liverpool playing their match away to Aston Villa, which was displaced by the date of Carabao Cup final, next week, they are now sure to have a week off going into that game against Spurs. The midweek of May 13 will also be free, by which time, with two rounds to play, they may already have been crowned champions.

As a consequence of their fourth-round exit, Liverpool can now play a maximum of 23 games by the end of the season -- 15 in the Premier League, one in the Carabao Cup and seven in the Champions League -- so the benefits of losing at Plymouth are obvious. That is five games fewer than Klopp's team had to play in the final weeks of the 2021-22 season, but Slot's Liverpool could end up winning more trophies.

Slot made 10 changes to his starting lineup for the Plymouth tie and didn't include Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister. The former Feyenoord coach said after the game that he had no regrets about his selection decision.

'Most of the things we do, we do for a reason," Slot said. "We just don't do it all of a sudden.

"The last few weeks we have played every single week two times. The upcoming weeks we have to play every single time two games. Therefore, it's not only for them good to once in a while have a week where they only play one game, but also for the ones that were here [at Plymouth,] they need the intensity of the game because you can keep on training with them, but once in a while they need a game as well.

"They had that as well against PSV [a 3-2 Champions League loss in Eindhoven on Jan. 29,] unfortunately we lost that one, and they had that today, and unfortunately we lost this one again as well."

Slot's reference to his fringe players losing both of the games in which they were selected to play also points to the reality that, beyond the first 14-15 names on his squad list, the Liverpool manager cannot rely on the club's second string to deliver when the star players are unavailable. But after being dumped out of the FA Cup, Slot and Liverpool now have the breathing space to take on the challenge of achieving a treble.

They are one win away from lifting the Carabao Cup and six points clear at the top of the Premier League, having played one game fewer than the chasing pack, so the path is clear for success in both competitions. And without the distraction of the FA Cup, success in the Champions League has become more attainable.

As embarrassing as it looks at first glance, losing against Plymouth could turn out to be Liverpool's best result of the season.