hello and welcome to sportsday with me, marc edwards. here is what we have got coming up on the show. haaland the hero, as manchester city bank their game in hand with a win over brentford. the real deal. mbappe on the move to madrid, as the la liga giants get the world's most wanted man. the yorkshire chairman, colin graves, explains why he has never personally apologised to azeem rafiq for the abuse he suffered at the club.

hello and thanks for joining us on sportsday. we begin in the premier league where manchester city are up to second, one point off the top of the table, after beating brentford 1—0 at home. and who else but this man, erling haaland, scoring a vital winner 19 minutes from time, as manchester city eventually broke brentford's stubborn resistance to close to within a point of the premier league summit. it was haaland's 22nd strike of the season and means he has now scored against every premier league opponent he has faced. more importantly, it secured a victory that takes city above arsenal into second spot, one point behind liverpool. missed opportunity last game against chelsea. we make the second half to get a better result, but so far the team is there. we are closer but at the end now, the real part of the season.

united, liverpool, arsenal. tough games, tough period. we are there. i think we were perfect. we were just unlucky. the player to deserve so much praise for a top defensive performance. i think until the goal, we gave two chances away. a header and an off the line. we were good defensively. we need to be against the best in the world. sirjim ratcliffe's deal to buy a 27.7% stake in manchester united has been completed. the british billionaire's investment is worth around $1.6 billion. the glazerfamily, who have owned united since 2005, will retain a majority stake but ratcliffe's ineos group will take control of football operations. the deal, which was agreed on christmas eve, also includes $300 million

for future investment in the club's old trafford stadium. there were two matches in the champions league round of 16 first leg that took place on tuesday. the standout tie at the san siro between serie a winners inter milan and atletico madrid. substitute marko arnautovic scored to hand inter milan the advantage. while luuk dejong's penalty rescued a draw at home for psv eindhoven against borussia dortmund. former psv player donyell malen had put dortmund ahead in the first half. the second leg is in dortmund on 13 march. we're not in a transfer window but one of most anticipated deals in football has been agreed. barring any hitches, kylian mbappe will be a real madrid player next season. real have offered a five—year deal and the spanish football

writer and broadcaster guillem ballague explains why the time is right for mbappe to make the move. he's 25. he's given a lot of years — seven — to p56 and i think he feels it's time to obviously, sporting wise, make a step forward and i think going to real madrid, competitors for everything, winners of the champions league as well. unique club in the world. one that is close to his heart. you have to say, he admires ronaldo and that white shirt. he he has always said that, more ronaldo than the white shirt bit but it is certainly something he feels he has to do to be closer to win the balon d'0r, the award he doesn't get at p56. i think he was quite upset he hasn't in last three years been closer to winning it. with real madrid he will have the opportunity to do so.

but also, a contract that finished at p56 meant he had to decide — do i get a longer contract, two more years till i'm 27, or do i go now? this real madrid is a fast train right now, with rodrigo and others, young, but competitive. he feels he could adapt to it well, win more things and real madrid have been there and prepared for him. also, real madrid have played very cleverly. they sent the message to mbappe, "if you don't come "now, we will go for haaland next, we won't have the money "for you". the stars have aligned for this to happen. so arguably the biggest transfer in world football. when it goes through, the ultimate superstar at the home of the galacticos,

already a world cup champion, a world cup golden boot winner and a world cup final hat—trick scorer to boot and yet still only 25. but as former real madrid president ramon calderon explained to the bbc, there's more to this deal than just money for one of the world's most coveted players. mainly it's the glory, the titles. they know here his image, his reputation will be broadcast all around the world. i know mbappe in this case is well known. but when they come to real madrid, the image is strengthened much more. to cricket, and the yorkshire chairman colin graves told a parliamentary committee in the united kingdom on tuesday that he hasn't spoken to azeem rafiq to apologise for the racist abuse he suffered while playing for the club. rafiq's testimony led to the county being fined around $500,000 for failing to address systemic use of racist or discriminatory language over a number of years, and some of the period in question covered grave's initial tenure at the club. here's our sports editor, dan roan.

this is the first time colin graves publicly spoke since re—elected as the yorkshire chairman, following a vote by members earlier this month that effectively approved a financial takeover package by a consortium that graves was heading up. the reason it is controversial is because he formally presided over a period of time during which the county has subsequently admitted, an ecb charge, they failed to address systemic use of racist language. graves has maintained he was never aware of any racist behaviour, but he was criticised by the ecb for suggesting some incidents were banter, as he put it and his return as chairman at yorkshire has been criticised by some who believe it's a backward step. one of those critics is the former yorkshire spinner—turned—whistleblower, rafiq, whose allegations of racism sparked a huge that led to the financial crisis of the county that saw graves return. now, graves apologised for that racism scandal. he said that he regretted what he previously said, but he did face questioning today from mps on the culture, media and sport select committee. he was asked specifically why he had not apologised directly to rafiq.

i apologised in my statement to everybody who experienced this. to mr rafiq, i haven't apologised to him personally, no. if i had the opportunity to talk to him, then, fine, i would do. he should not have experienced what he experienced. now, earlier in that committee hearing, we heard from cindy butts, the chair of that landmark independent commission commission into equity in cricket report, that concluded that the game had a serious problem with discrimination, it was institutionally racist, classist and sexist.

she spoke about the fact that the legendary former england all rounder, sir ian botham — lord botham — the chairman of durham county cricket club, criticised the findings of the report, describing it as nonsense and a waste of money. this is what she said about botham's criticism. i was disappointed that the ecb did not call out lord botham. chair of a first class cricket county, his words carry weight. the ecb didn't see fit to come out and say that this is wrong. i think that not only did they stay quiet, they resisted calls from stakeholders and those concerned about mr botham's comments and chose to stay silent. as for the governing body, the chairman of the ecb said while he disagreed with

lord botham and told him so, everyone was entitled to their opinion. he said he stood very much by the governing body's actions when it came to responding to the icec report in this quest to make it the most inclusive sport in the country. world athletics is planning to introduce a new trial for measuring long jump. a take—off zone will be used instead of the traditional wooden board where a no—jump is called if the athlete's foot crosses the line. the jump will be measured from where the athlete's front foot takes off to where they land in the pit. the aim is to reduce the amount of no—jumps. a third of all attempts at the 2023 world championships in budapest did not count as athletes overstepped. from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye.

hello. with the ground saturated across most parts of the uk right now, the prospect of more rain is only going to enhance the risk of flooding over the next few days. and rain it will be, also accompanied by some stronger winds as well. now, rainfall totals for the next two days shows that all of us will see that wetter weather. but it's these darker colours and the bright greens in the west, which shows the highest rainfall totals on the hills — over 50 millimetres — and where it is actually linked into this strip of cloud which stretches all the way from the caribbean towards us, bringing up airfrom the mid—atlantic. so it's again mild air. so even after that initial dip in temperatures, by the start of wednesday morning, it is going to be milder there but a pretty wet, miserable rush hourfor many. driest and brightest weather across 0rkney and shetland, rain's with you through the afternoon, but it's a day for some of you where

the second half of the day is much better than the first. northern ireland brightening up by lunchtime. bright conditions developing across scotland, northern and western england and wales will stay cloudy. east anglia, the south east and in the channel it will stay pretty wet. a windy day across the board. winds touching gale force. and even though it will be mild on the face of it, 11—13 degrees, it's that wind which will temper the feel. now that first batch of rain gets out of the way, but it still links into some more persistent rain around the english channel through the night and into thursday morning. another batch of pretty lively downpours will work the way in from the west, and that will be dividing line between the milder air that sits there through the night in the southeast and something colder to the north and west with some frost and ice. and that colder air will gradually push its way in as we go through into thursday, pushing across all parts of the uk as rain gradually clears its way eastwards and it'll push us back really to the way february should feel now. it's a mild start for much of england wales, outbreaks of rain heavy at times strong winds developing through the english channel. the rain does edge out of the way british skies showers will develop and there'll be a mixture of rain, hail and also a bit

of sleet and snow over the hills, too, with temperatures by the end of the afternoon in mid to high single figures. cold start to friday as well compared to what we've been used to. but again, it'll be a day of sunshine and showers. some of you have a better chance of staying dry than you will do over the next few days. but when the showers form again, they'll be on the heavy side, quite lively and it will be wintry over the hills just about anywhere. stay with the cooler conditions into the weekend. there will be some dry and bright weather. there'll be a few showers scattered around too. take care.

live from washington, this is bbc news. several countries have condemned the us for vetoing the latest un resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. instead, the us offered its own draft. two major parties in pakistan agree to form a coalition government, nearly two weeks after a contested vote failed to deliver a clear winner. and, frozen embryos are �*children�* — that's the ruling by alabama's supreme court. hello. i'm sumi somaskanda. the us is facing widespread condemnation at the un security council in new york, after it vetoed a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in gaza. )it�*s the third time washington has blocked the move.