the united nations estimates 1.9 million of 6323's 2.4 million population have been displaced. christmas celebrations have been "called off" in bethlehem in solidarity with the people of gaza. the usual tree has been replaced by a nativity scene in the rubble. this is the scene live in the vatican where pope francis is leading christmas eve mass at saint peter's basilica. saying, tonight our hearts are in bethlehem. now on bbc news, it's time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday, i'm chetan pathak live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme:

has christmas come early for manchester united fans or not? a deal is finally agreed for british billionaire sirjim ratcliffe to buy a stake in the club. no festive joy for chelsea — beaten for the eighth time in the premier league this season — but it's all smiles for wolves. and rangers win at motherwell to close in on cetlic and the top of the scottish premierhship. welcome along, thank you forjoining us. so much for a quiet sporting christmas eve. it's been announced in the last few hours that british billionaire sirjim ratcliffe has agreed to buy a 25% — worth a little over £1.25 billion — in manchester united.

the news comes over a year after the club's owners, the glazers, stated they were considering selling. ratcliffe�*s ineos group will take control of united's football operations and provide over £230 million in future investement into old trafford. our sports editor dan roan reports. when sirjim ratcliffe toured old trafford earlier this year, the british billionaire was hoping to buy manchester united. instead, he will become a minority shareholder of the club he says he has always supported. the founder of petrochemicals giant ineos, ratcliffe has already invested in sailing and cycling teams and owns a third of mercedes in formula 1. the owner of two football clubs, including nice in france, manchester born ratcliffe last year failed in a bid to buy chelsea, at the time hinting to me united was his real goal. some would argue you should be trying to buy the club that you grew up supporting. yes, i mean, i can understand that but manchester

united is not for sale. with its rich history... they were the soccer champions of europe. ..legendary players... cantona! ..and dominance under the managerial great sir alex ferguson, united became a commercial powerhouse with a global fan base. but since 2005 it's been owned by the glazer family and after years of protests from fans unhappy with the club's debt, a lack of investment in old trafford and on field decline, last season the americans put the club up for sale. qatari banker sheikh jassim wanted to buy it outright but withdrew, leaving the way clear for ratcliffe. one of united's top executives explained why fresh investment was needed. we are doing this for a very positive reason. we know we've got real ambition and a plan at united and we wanted to make sure that we attract the right investment to be able to live up to that ambition.

after a drawn—out and divisive process that has lasted more than a year now, many united fans will be dismayed that the glazers remain in overall control here at old trafford, the challenge facing sirjim ratcliffe to convince them that he is the man that can lead a revival in the footballing fortunes of this club. ex—british cycling chief sir david brailsford oversees ratcliffe�*s various sports teams and is set to have a key role at united, the pair experiencing mixed fortunes at nice since ineos bought it in 2019. some environmental campaigners say the petrochemicals company uses sport to give it a more positive image, but those involved defend the investment. what do you think jim's motivation is? he loves a challenge bigger than any, and i guess that's the drive for the america's cup and probably when you look at man united it's a team that has been struggling in recent years. there is no bigger challenge in sport right now than turning man united round. so i think that's what drivesjim. but ten years have now passed since united last won the premier league and after a difficult start to this season the challenge facing ratcliffe is a formidable one. dan roan, bbc news.

lets ta ke lets take a little more into those challenges. kieran maguire is a football finance expert. he's been telling us what the deal could mean for manchester united going forwards. i think the timings unusual. the fact that it is so close to christmas. but lawyers and accountants have been trying to go through the small print. the manchester united board were concerned that there might be repercussions from the other minority shareholders. so they now feel that this deal is appropriate to all. it does allow sirjim ratcliffe to invest money into the club, into those areas, which i think most commentators are concerned about, which is a lack of infrastructure spend from the glazerfamily, and b the quality of the talent recruitment as opposed to the quantity. manchester united have spent money. i think it could be argued that the money's not being spent well over the course of the last decade. i think sirjim had reached that stage of his career, having been spectacularly brilliant at identifying companies

which are underperforming and turning them round and moving those on, that, as somebody that's from a manchester background, he'd wanted to invest in sport. initially it was cycling. we've also seen the yachting, and then he moved decided to move into football perhaps to get his his feet wet by buying a french club first, with perhaps part of his masterplan was to go back to manchester, which is his roots, of course, and invest in the club that he used to support as a boy. so it's going to be a very expensive process, because other clubs have caught up and overtaken manchester united in terms of the quality of what they have to offer in the stadium and also perhaps on the quality of what they've got to offer on the pitch. and i think this is where he wants to concentrate his efforts. i suspect all the focus will be on the shares, but perhaps there would be parallel

contract that will give sirjim operational control in respect of the football club, in terms of talent recruitment both at executive level and manager level and playing level. it looks as if he has got two appointments onto the board of directors, so clearly his voice will be heard. i think as far as the glazer family are concerned, this is a win—win dealfor them. they will be able to share in the success of the club going forward, so any upside in terms of the increase in the value of manchester united, they will get united, they will get a significant proportion of that, they will get cash immediately. if things don't work out, they will be able to blame sir jim ratcliffe rather than take the unhappiness of the fans, as has been the case since the acquired the club. manchester united have spent more than £900 million in interest costs on the loan that the glazer family took out to acquire manchester united, and fans and observers think that money could have been spent better elsewhere.

the manchester united supporters�* trust says, "fa ns have very mixed feelings today" and that the glazers�* ongoing role was "a cause for serious concern". gary neville�*s given his reaction on social media, taking aim at the timing of the announcement on christmas eve. posting on x, formerly twitter, he says: not just strong words from gary neville, journalist and author michael crick is a manchester united fan and has written several books about the club. he says there's a lot to do before they can get back to the top again. the glazers are deeply unpopular, nearly every fan wants them out and would be delighted if the glazers left tomorrow but it

doesn't look like that's going to happen and we've got this halfway house, not even halfway, where ratcliffe owns a quarter. but the glazers have, it seems, ceded him control of the football and he needs to bring in some good people, he needs to revamp the scouting operation. we keep buying bad players or players who are not worth we spent on them. but there seems to be a malaise at old trafford whereby good players suddenly become bad ones. rashford is a good example. he's barely scored this season. bruno fernandes. jadon sancho. goodness knows what happened there. there's something very, very wrong in the heart of old trafford. let's turn to football on the pitch.

there was a premier league game today. no christmas miracle for chelsea fans. theirfrustrating premier league season continues after they were beaten 2—1 at wolves — their fourth consecutive defeat on the road in the league this season. but for wolves, they gave their fans another day to remember at molineux, as craig templeton reports. for the first premier league game on christmas eve in nearly 30 years, there are certain must haves — santa, reindeer and a present in the crowd. there was nearly a present on the pitch whenjoao gomes gifted the ball to raheem sterling. he was unable to cash in. jose sa far from happy. but the team in old gold started to shine in the second half. mario lemina managed to win a header, despite not jumping, and then soaked in the festive cheers. chelsea's struggles in front of goal continued. when misfiring striker nicolas jackson was substituted, there were cheers from his fans. unfortunately for him, they were ironic. and things got worse for chelsea in injury time when another

defensive error left matt doherty with an easy finish. it was party time at molineux. there was a glimmer of hope for chelsea when nkunku scored on his premier league debut, but it finished 2—1, and wolves have now beaten manchester city, tottenham and chelsea at home this season. they go level on points with pochettino's side, who have now lost their last four league away games. craig templeton, bbc news. chelsea's problems upfront have been the story of their season. mauricio pochetino's side have now failed to convert 36 big goal scoring opportunites in the league this season — the most of any team. nothing but delight for wolves though, and their manager gary 0'neill. to be able to play a team like chelsea and not just sit and defend, but going toe—to—toe was, yeah, a big effort. i have belief in the group, in what they can do and achieve. sometimes that's why we turn the ball over a lot because i ask

them to do complicated things and ask them to act and behave like a big team and today we were able to compete with one. it's not about shape, it's not about quality. it's about being strong in your mind and compete, being really tough. we are missing to compete a bit in this way. we need to improve there, but it's a normal process when you want to build a new team. rangers have closed the gap on the leaders celtic at the top of the scottish premiership. winning 2—0 at second from bottom motherwell, they are now just two points behind the champions but still have a game in hand. drew savage reports. fir park might not quite look like the ideal place to be on christmas eve, but rangers sent their fans home happy, if not necessarily dry. motherwell had not won in 14 games, and this one wasn't quite three minutes old when rangers took the lead.

that's how to start the game! it's a brilliant finish from kieran dowell! 12 minutes later, the game was as good as over. there's another one! they are not hanging around! todd cantwell this time. seasonal cheer in the stands, even allowing for the seasonal weather. this was as close as motherwell came to making a game of it. spencer should have done better. rangers were bouncing their way towards christmas. dessers came close to wrapping things up, but on two occasions offside decisions went against him. but philippe clement will not mind, two points behind celtic with a game in hand. drew savage, bbc news. anthonyjoshua says he's sure everyone still wants to see him face deontay wilder next year after a night of mixed fortunes for both fighters in saudi arabia. joshua himself took another step back to the top

of heavyweight boxing — dominant from the outset against 0tto wallin. the swede�*s corner pulled him out of the fight at the end of the fifth round, giving joshua the win that continues his revival. but deontay wilder couldn't hold up his side of the bargain, losing to new zealand'sjoseph parker on a unanimous points decision 7 onejudge had parker winning every round. wilder, now 38, says he believes he can still defeat anthonyjoshua despite falling short last night, and joshua's not ruling it out either. i'm not too sure what can happen from here. but i'm sure from a fan perspective, they will be more annoyed. for me, i always understand how this game is. you never know, this is elite level boxing. the day of reckoning was an amazing card, wilderjust came up short, but he will live to fight another day. me and him could still get it on, we could still get it cracking. i believe i'm a massive threat, i still think wilder's a threat,

and i still think it does amazing numbers if we get it on. and as it's christmas, let's bring you this. it's what organisers call the largest santa themed race in the world. held in the centre of madrid every year, thousands of people took part in the 5 kilometre race to raise money for the red cross. we don't know if father christmas himself was running. he might have other things to be doing tonight, but thousands of others involved there. that's all from sportsday. head over to the website, more reaction to our top story tonight, sirjim ratcliffe buying that 25% stake in manchester united. the sports team will be back with you on boxing day. from me and everyone here for now, wishing you a very merry christmas. good night.