Ireland beat Bosnia 2-0 to qualify for its second successive European championship Finals Monday, progressing 3-1 on aggregate after a Jon Walters brace secured a second-leg playoff win at the Aviva Stadium. Walters, back from suspension, converted a penalty in the first half before adding a second 20 minutes from time to send Ireland back to the European championships where it suffered a swift exit in 2012. "It's amazing. Every single player's been part of this. Now we can put right what happened at the last European championships," Walters said in a pitchside interview. Ireland's chances of even reaching the playoffs looked in peril midway through the campaign but the coaching duo of Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane, recruited at considerable expense, put some shape into a side that went on to record a shock victory over world champion Germany last month. It may not have been especially pretty but even without the vast experience of John O'Shea and Shay Given, a makeshift partnership of Ciaran Clark and Richard Keogh defended manfully in front of Darren Randolph in both legs as Ireland managed the tie well. Ireland, unbeaten at home in the group stages, joins fellow playoff winner Hungary at France 2016. Messi returns to training Barcelona star Lionel Messi returned to training with his teammates Monday following a knee injury, ahead of the league leaders' trip to Real Madrid this weekend. Messi hasn't featured for Barca since sustaining knee ligament damage in a 2-1 victory over Las Palmas at the end of September, but is in line to make his comeback in Saturday's first Clasico of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu. "(Monday's training) session included the presence of ‘Leo' Messi, who is in the process of recovering from a left knee injury suffered on Sept. 26," read a post on Barca's club website. Barca has performed well in the absence of the four-time Ballon d'Or winner, with four straight league victories propelling Luis Enrique's men to the top of La Liga, three points ahead of archrival Madrid in second. ‘Euro 2016 to go ahead in France' French Sports Minister Patrick Kanner said Tuesday there was "no question" of cancelling Euro 2016 in France despite last week's terrorist attacks in Paris. "The Euro will be staged in conditions of maximum security, strengthened as a result of the events which we have just lived through. "There is no question of cancelling this great popular festival," said Kanner. Belgium calls off Spain game Belgium called off Tuesday's friendly match against Spain less than 24 hours before kickoff after the government raised the security alert amid an investigation related to the Paris attacks. The Belgian football federation said the decision was taken late Monday after the government recommended that the game not be played.
