hello and welcome to sportsday with me, marc edwards. here is what is coming up on the show. we have an exclusive sit down with the new manchester united co—owner for his thoughts on the manchester united rebuild. the british billionaire says he wants a new stadium, one for united and the north of england. it is about time somebody built a national stadium, in the north. elsewhere, league leaders liverpool leather luton 4—1 to go four points clear at the top of the premier league. could it be ben back bowling? the england captain ben stokes in line to bowl in the fourth test with india.

welcome to sportsday. it's been almost two decades of discontent at the way manchester united has been run. many supporters have wanted change from even before the glazer family took over at old trafford. well, they've finally got their wish... in one way at least. it's not new owners perhaps, but a new co—owner to take control of football operations. sirjim ratcliffe's purchase of around 28% of the club completed on tuesday, and the british billionaire has given his first tv interview not done by in house media to our sports editor dan roan. ratcliffe has been talking about his desire to take united back to the top of english football and fix what he's called the club's other main issue — old trafford itself — with a new stadium very much on his mind. it was not your average deal this. you've done many deals over the year and it took a long time. how does it compare

to others that you have conducted and were there times when you felt it would not happen? there were many times i feared it would not happen because it was a complicated transaction. it was a transaction that required a lot of patience and it was also a transaction where you had to step into the shoes of the sellers and understand the motivations and the situation the sellers were in. to be fair to the glazer family they did want to sell it to us. there were obstacles in the way and we had to find our way through the obstacles. so we got to know each other and that formed, that helped to form a bond and relationship between ourselves and the family. how would you describe them and how they have run manchester united to this point? i only know knowjoel and avram and they are,

despite what you might read in the press, they are really nice people, very courteous, and they are very, you know, they are avid supporters of manchester united. you will have heard many manchester united fans dismayed about the level of debt the club has been saddled with, the on—field decline and infrastructure and they hold the glazers responsible for that. so do you understand that anger? i understand the frustration and the anger but where i sit today is looking forward, not looking backwards. so what i would like to say to the firm is give us a little time. try to be patient and we will try to build manchester united back to where it should be which is one of the very elite clubs in europe. but there will be worries from fans that the glazes glazers remain in ultimate control overall. and the nature of this coownership. what reassurances can you give them that in practice it will work?

the key to wet working is the relationship that we will have with joel and avram which, in my view, is a very good relationship and a trusting relationship. i cannot give people assurances about the future but my personal view is that there is a good level of trust and it will work. what is your latest thinking about old trafford and its future. tired, frankly and in need of... it is in in need of refurbishment and i think there are two main issues. one is the field and the other is the stadium. there is quite a big argument in my view for a regeneration of manchester and within it the nucleus of it, a new stadium which would be a world class state—of—the—art stadium which could take england games, it could take the fa cup final, could take the champions league final and service

the north of england. it sounds like the preference is for a new stadium if that can be achieved. if it can be achieved that would clearly be, i would be very excited about that prospect for the north of england. i think it would be fantastic. sir alex ferguson famously said his principal objective in charge of united was to knock liverpool off their perch. times have moved on and you now have manchester city aiming for a fourth consecutive title. how would you encapsulate or articulate what you want to achieve at united? is it to knock city off their perch? there is competition everywhere it seems. i want to knock them off their perch. alex was a driven and competitive individual and hejust wanted to win. we are friends in the sense

that we are all in the north—west but they are the enemy, you know? they are clearly our biggest rival in the uk and then obviously you have two or three clubs in europe but, no, absolutely. that is what we are there for, to knock them off their perch. how far behind you will them are you? a long way behind. one match in the english premier league on wednesday and with manchester city winning their game in hand on tuesday, it was over to league leaders liverpool to try and give themselves more breathing room. which is exactly what they've done, moving four points clear at the top of the premier league after coming from behind to beat luton at anfield. having gone into the break 1—0 down, jurgen klopp�*s side were rampant after half time, their pressure paying off. captain virgilvan dijk powering home a header in the 56th minute before cody gakpo gave liverpool the lead two minutes later, luiz diaz added a third and harvey elliott, making his 100th appearance

for the club, rounded off a fine second half with a goal at the end. liverpool four points clear of manchester city, who have a game in hand. it is difficult to ask for because you have to feel comfortable in the first chance you could see in other situations it was in his mind. give it a try, to start again and win the second half. and whatever comes after that we win the game. so try and the boys did exceptionally well. i have to say. it was one of the best i saw us playing. i love it so much. i thought the second half we just experienced and field in liverpool, you know? i thought the supporters turned the heat up and the noise up and we conceded two goals quickly and it was difficult to recover from that. arsenal were stunned as porto scored in stoppage time to give them the advantage after the first leg of their champions league last—16 tie. brazilian winger galeno with an exquisite goal from outside the area.

the second leg will take place in london on the 12th of march, when arsenal will aim to reach the quarter—finals for the first time since 2010. victor 0simhen meanwhile salvaged a draw for napoli in their first leg tie with barcelona. the nigeria striker making his first start for the club since december. robert lewandowski had earlier given the la liga champions the lead in the 60th minute, but it's all square before the return leg in spain some big news off the field in germany. it's been confirmed that manager thomas tuchel will leave bayern munich at the end of the season. he's going a year earlier than planned as part of "a sporting realignment" at the club. he led bayern to last season's bundesliga title, but they're currently eight points behind leaders bayer leverkusen after back—to—back league defeats. one of those was an emphatic 3—0 loss to leverkusen — whose manager xabi alonso is one of the leading candidates to replace tuchel

it is delicate because they are still in a fight over who was winning the title but within a point gap may be who was winning the title but with an 8—point gap may be that is not that acute at the moment. leverkusen are in pole position and maybe xabi alonso would be willing to entertain this more than he would otherwise but he is the number one preferred option but by and understand that they will not have a clear run at him. laverkusen want to keep him and there is the added complication of anotherformer club interested and that is liverpool. and there's some good news for england ahead of the fourth test against india, which starts on friday. captain, ben stokes, could bowl as long as he recovers well after wednesday's net session. the all rounder hasn't bowled competitively since earlyjuly last year and had an operation on his knee in november. i think there is definitely a chance. he is not confirmed yet

so he will probably bowl in the batters today so he will see how it holds up tomorrow and see how it goes. if that is good then hopefully we can see him on the board. carlos alcaraz is confident he will be fit to play indian wells after saying he will be "out of work for a few days" with an ankle injury suffered at the rio 0pen. the world number two was forced to retire two games into his opening match and said tests showed he had sprained the ankle. the 20—year—old spaniard did eventually return to the court but retired soon after. he's due to play rafa nadal in an exhibition match at the start of march. you can get all the latest sports news at from the bbc sport app, orfrom our website — that's bbc.com/sport. from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye.

hello there. it looks like it's going to be very wet for the next 2a hours, particularly across england and wales. and that could exacerbate already existing flooding problems there. by the end of the week, as well, it'll be pulling colder air behind the low pressure. on thursday, things will be turning colder for all areas and any showers will have wintry elements to them across northern and western hills for friday and into the weekend. now, this deepening area of low pressure will move across the country, particularly england and wales, during the course of thursday — a squeeze in the isobars indicating gales for a time. and then you'll see the blue colours invading the whole of the uk behind the system, so it turns colder for all. but through the morning, there could be some issues with standing water, localised flooding as this rain could be heavy, squally, as it spreads across the midlands, southern and eastern england. maybe some rumbles of thunder on it, strong and gusty winds with that, too. but even as we move out of the morning into the afternoon, we could see another round of heavy rain spreading across central, southern and eastern england. it'll take its time to clear. elsewhere, it's a bright day — sunshine, blustery showers,

particularly across northern ireland and western scotland. and there will be some snow falling over the hills, even down to moderate levels across scotland through the course of the day. a blustery day for all areas, very windy with gales across the southeast. by the end of the day, that cold air will be pretty much across the whole of the uk. so we're looking at 4—8 celsius the high. so we've gone out of those double figure values that we've had over the past couple of weeks. it has been very mild indeed. now, as we head through thursday night, it looks like it'll stay cold. there'll be further blustery showers, wintry on the hills in the north and the west, and a touch of frost in places, particularly where skies are clear. so much colder night to come and a colder start to friday. we hold on to westerly winds, a few troughs enhancing the shower activity across northern and western areas, so plenty of showers rattling into scotland, northern ireland, western england and wales. a few getting in towards the east, but a lot of sunshine here. a blustery day to come for all. there'll be further snow on the hills in northern and western areas. top temperatures, again, ranging from around 7—9

degrees for most. it looks like we keep hold of a ridge of high pressure through the course of saturday and sunday. low pressure just skirts past the south—west, so a bit of a question mark on that. but i think, generally, saturday and sunday, quite a bit of dry weather around some sunshine, a few showers — which will be wintry — over hills. nights will be cold with a touch of frost and mist and fog.

live from washington, this is bbc news. a member of israel's war cabinet hints at progress in ceasefire talks, even as the country's lawmakers reject the idea of a palestinian state. the unrest in gaza leads to scenes of upheaval in the british parliament. mps walked out in protest over a vote on whether to call for a ceasefire. and brazil's foreign minister opens the g20 meeting in rio by criticising the paralysis of the un security council, on the wars in gaza and ukraine. hello, i'm helena humphrey. we begin in the middle east. as international pressure mounts on israel to account for its actions in gaza, members of the israeli parliament the knesset, have overwhelmingly backed a resolution by prime minister benjamin netanyahu that rejects any unilateral recognition of a palestinian state.