hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: the number of long a&e waits across the uk has more than doubled in the past four years, as hospitals struggle to cope with demand. a final report into last year's tram crash in croydon, which killed seven passengers, concludes that the driver probably fell asleep. protests and violence in parts ofjerusalem, the west bank and gaza, following president trump's decision to recognise jerusalem as israel's capital. foreign secretary borisjohnson says he will go to iran "very shortly", and urge the release of british citizen, nazanin zaghari ratcliffe. storm caroline brings strong winds to scotland, causing transport disruption. dozens of schools have been closed. marcus beale, one of britain's most senior counter terrorism officers, has been fined £3,500 after confidential documents were stolen from his car. in a moment it will be time

for sportsday, but first a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news. we'll be live injerusalem and washington for reaction to donald trump's decision to recognise jerusalem as israel's capital. that's in beyond 100 days at seven o'clock. the uk's city of culture 2021 will be announced shortly. join us at 8:20 for reaction. as forbes reveals the richest you tuber in the world is a 26 year—old british man, we'll explore the phenomenon. that's all ahead on bbc news. now on bbc news it's time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm mike bushell. on a day when the premier league has been the envy of europe.

for the first time in champions league history, there are five english teams through to the knockout phase, and liverpool's magnificent seven underlined the dominance. wales cry foul, as wembley gets extra brussels for euro 2020— and it's got nothing to do with christmas. and ben stokes has been named in england's one—day squad for the five—match series against australia in the new year, even though as yet he can't be selected. hello and welcome to the programme. plenty to get through as always, but we're going to start with football, because tonight's europa league action is already under way. we'll have the latest from everton‘s game at apollon limassol injust a moment. but first we're going to have a look at the dominance of english clubs in the champions league. liverpool's 7—0 thrashing of spartak moscow last night ensured five premier league

sides, will be featuring in monday's last 16 draw. james burford now reports. for the first time in champions league history, there will be five english teams in the last 16. liverpool capped off a memorable group stage by thumping spartak moscow 7—0. 23 goals in six games, second only to paris saint—germain. the last 16 there are only strong size. this year is quite special. you can't often face bayern munich and real madrid if you win the group. and juventus. that is quite interesting. city had been hoping to become the first british club to win all six of their group matches in one champions league season, but

suffered their first defeat in 29. you have to say manchester city have a real chance of winning it. they have been fantastic this season. it was a shadow team they put out but there are enough great players there and they are playing to pep guardiola's style as well. the other one, manchester united, and it is purely because ofjose mourinho. he knows how to win. would be surprised if chelsea went on a fantastic run, even spurs if they played their breasts —— best football? they have all got a bit of a chance. fernando llore nte scored all got a bit of a chance. fernando llorente scored his first todman goal as spurs beat nicosia 3—0. —— top non—goal. despite winning their groups, liverpool or manchester city could face of several big teams in the next round. manchester united and spurs face similarly tricky ties as the competition enters the

knockout stage. and chelsea's chances of avoiding a major team appear slimmer, with paris saint—germain and barcelona potential opponents. at least one tea m potential opponents. at least one team has made it to the final whenever four english teams have made it to this stage in the past. to the europa league now and everton‘s performances in europe this season fly in the face of fellow english clu bs' success. they're without a win in their five group matches, and the game with apollon limassol right now is a dead rubberfor them. but they have made a very confident start. a well taken header by luckman. he has added a second with a fantastic long—range strike. 2—0 is the score at the moment. manager sam alla rdyce is is the score at the moment. manager sam allardyce is missing the match because of a prearranged medical appointment. craig shakespeare and duncan ferguson are in charge. arsenal boss arsene wenger will play "quite an experienced team" against bate borisov this evening, despite his side having already won europa league group h.

the gunners have managed to qualify without using a number of regular first—team players, and the manager isn't feeling the pressure of being one of the favourites for the competition. i don't much worry about that. i just think we have a chance to win it. let's give it a go. it is like winning the fa cup. you go straightaway now to direct knockout. it is important we have a go and give everything to do it. it is always good in this first round to give experience to everybody. now to welsh football's disapointment that they haven't been chosen to stage any matches at euro 2020, even after brussels lost the four matches they were due to host. instead it's wembley celebrating, adding to their tally of seven games now, including the semi—finals and final. in a statement tonight, the football association of wales, says it's extremely disappointed.

"wales has never staged a euro or world cup final, and this was its one and only chance of doing so." it adds: "the concept of taking uefa euro 2020 to 13 different countries was devised to allow smaller countries, like wales, to have a unique opportunity." richard conway, has been explaining more about the decision. this has been coming for some time. the stadium in brussels is still not under construction. uefa gave the authorities time to get their house in order. it hasn't happened. they have made the decision to take three group games and one round of 16 away from them. where was it going to go, that was the big question. cardiff and stock on very keen to bring those games to their shores. —— stockholm. in the end and uefa have gone with wembley. wembley already

have —— has two semifinals and a final. delight for the football association in london. wales today saying they're extremely disappointed by the decision. they had hoped they would get those games. it is now in its final shape, the competition. but those additional games leaving brussels and coming to london. richard conway. uefa have opened disciplinary proceedings against spartak moscow, following alleged racist abuse, during a youth game against liverpool yesterday liverpool's under 17 international, rhian brewster, complained to officials during their uefa, youth league match yesterday. spartak defender leonid mironov, has been charged with racist abuse. anti—racism charity kick it out says it is appalled by the allegation. derek mcinnes is to remain as the manager of aberdeen. rangers' request to speak to mcinnes about the vacant post at ibrox was turned down on tuesday. although mcinnes had been interested in speaking to rangers,

it's now emerged he will be remaining at pittodrie. the fa cup match between brighton and crystal palace next month, will be the first competitve match in england, to use video match officials, known as var. it will feature video assistants that will allow referees to review video footage, and overturn their own decisions. the league cup semi—finals, the week after, are also set to feature the use of var technology. the bbc will televise three ties over the course of the fa cup third round weekend. the big merseyside derby between liverpool and everton will be live on bbc one on friday the 5th of january. that will be followed by either hereford or fleetwood against leicester the following day. shrewsbury versus west ham will be broadcast live on the sunday. holders manchester city will face bristol city in the women's continental tyres cup quarterfinals. chelsea host liverpool and reading go to everton.

four—time winners arsenal will host sunderland. the ties will be played on the weekend of 16th and 17th of december. also coming up in the programme... we'll be in york for the latest from from the uk snooker championship. and one of the stars of england's rugby league world cup campaign reflects on their final disappointment against hosts australia. ben stokes has been named in the england one—day squad for their matches against australia next month, alongside batsman alex hales. stokes is not expected to be selected, as he waits to hear whether he'll face charges over an alleged incident in bristol in september. 0n the field england's attentions are on the must win third test, starting in seven days' time. here's andy swiss. they now have a two—day warm up game

in perth this weekend before the third test gets underway next week. they know that if australia win that test, they will regain the ashes. to make it even more daunting, england have not won impreza since 1978. one man who is not here with england is ben stokes. he is currently playing domestic cricket in new zealand. we have had the news that he has been named in the one—day squad for their series here injanuary. ben stokes waiting to find out if he will be charged over an incident in bristol in september. despite being named in this squad, he is still unavailable for selection on till the crown prosecution service decide whether to charge him and until the england and wales cricket board decide whether to take any disciplinary action. as things stand at the moment, ben stokes is still unavailable to play. and the swiss. a shock at the uk snooker

championship in york, because a senior player has managed to cruise through quite easily. world number six shaun murphy is in the last eight after a convincing 6—1win over ricky walden. murphy is one of two seats left. he has been joined by martin gould after he beat xiao guodong 6—4. watching all the action we re guodong 6—4. watching all the action werejohn parrott, guodong 6—4. watching all the action were john parrott, ken guodong 6—4. watching all the action werejohn parrott, ken daugherty and jason mohammad. welcome back to york. a good winter shaun murphy but plenty of things to work on in the next couple of days? you will always take a 6—1victory. he will analyse what he did. he gave his opponent a couple of chances. ricky walden struggled a bit. 6—1 was slightly flattering but he is still in the tournament and he can get better. i think when he comes up against some of the players who are playing very well, he will have to up playing very well, he will have to up his game, particularly if he has

visions of winning this wonderful trophy. he is doing very nicely. caught ride the simple mistakes and he will be tough to stop. a 6-4 win for martin gould. a topsy—turvy match but fair play to marton, he is playing well? yes, hard fought all the way through. he made 69 and 66 to get over the line. xiao guodong will be disappointed because he had only lost four frames? yes, he missed three blues of the spot. the final one costing the match. he will be disappointed with that. have you picked a winner? sullivan will take some beating. sullivan will be tough. but murphy has beaten them before. there are still some good players. thank you very much indeed. england wingerjermaine mcgillvary has backed the side to bounce back from the disappointment of losing the rugby league world cup, and go one better as hosts in four years' time. wayne bennett's side were beaten 6—0 by australia on saturday,

but mcgillvary believes there plenty of positives to take from the tournament. he joined hugh woozencroft in the studio earlier. the whole experience was one of a lifetime. i really enjoyed it. it was the best experience i had. being a part of that group was something special. that is the biggest thing i'm going it's coming back. it was a really tight group. we won't have that same group again in future. some guys will probably retire from international duty. some players might not get picked on form. it was a special occasion, just to travel across australia and new zealand. personally, a very good experience for you as well. scoring in every game until that final. did it surpass your expectations as to what you individually could achieve? not really. i knew what i was capable of. even though i probably not

produced it throughout the season. but to be on the big states like that and do have a great team around mejust that and do have a great team around me just helped me that and do have a great team around mejust helped me boost that and do have a great team around me just helped me boost myself out there. i thought i did well. but it is more a team effort. i'm a winger stood on the touchline, and i need a lot of support from the players inside. i thought the inside was amazing. it helped me flurries and have a great tournament. england led by head coach wayne bennett. pretty much like the sir alex ferguson of by much like the sir alex ferguson of rugby league. what was the experience like working with him and his influence? yeah, he is the biggest and best coach in the business. he has won everything. the longest serving and most successful coach. to work with him was a dream come true. he has made me what i am in these past three years. he has been really amazing for me. he is a great man manager. he don't care how

big your profile is. if you are the biggest player or the smallest player in the squad, he will help you, you will boost you, whatever you, you will boost you, whatever you need. if you need that lesson, he will teach you as well. he has been really good for me on a personal affront. i hope he stays on. england were -- weren't helped by several players missing. how do you think super league can help develop those stars who of course came from england, but to produce players who are doing it week in and week out here in england? we have a number of players in australia but most of the squad was english —based. we didn't look out of place. we didn't do too bad. you don't have to go to australia to perform on the big stage. kallum watkins has never been to australia, ryan hall, i've never been, and we did quite well. a lot of kids will want to go to australia. especially for the lifestyle. it is up to us to try to

keep these players, so they are the inspiration for kids coming through, especially academies over here, to make the sport bigger. england reached their first final since 1995. that would have captured the imagination here. they will host the next tournament in 2021. can you go one better and bring the trophy home? we have come along way since 22 years ago. the gap is closing but we need to keep building and keep working hard, especially in super league, may get a bigger brand, get more quality players through. we can definitely go one step further. keep the right people in place. wayne bennett, hopefully he stays. we can of the go one better. jermaine mcgillvary. —— we can definitely go one better. let's look at some of today's other stories now then. the us ambassador to the un has suggested there is some doubt over whether american athletes will attend the winter olympics in south korea.

nikki haley said their participation was still an "open question" due to heightened tensions between the us and neighbouring north korea. england lost 3—2 against 0lympic champions argentina in the quarterfinals of the hockey world league final in india earlier today. england trailed 2—0 at half time, and never quite got back into the match. and cambridge have won both the men's and the women's varsity matches at twickenham this afternoon. a 211—0 win for the women was followed up by a 20—10 win for the men's side. out of about 4,000 professional footballers in england, only ten are from a british asian background, according to new research from leeds beckett university. their study has found huge numbers of british asian people watch and play the sport, but problems like racism and a lack of role models stop them reaching the professional ranks. dave edwards has the story. here in bradford, a common scene across the country. youngsters of

asian descent playing the british national sport. but for then it seems it's almost impossible to make a career out of the game they love. it's still kind of surprising because football is supposed to be a sport for everyone. it's a fair game. i'm quite shocked that you don't see as much asians in the sport. with the quality i have seen in the lower leagues, they could actually play in the premier league. it is bad you don't see them. research suggests old—fashioned stereotypes are still widely believed within the football world. let me give you some examples. british asians prefer cricket. they haven't got the physical build for football. religion is more important than sport. and on top of all that, there is the problem of racism. sometimes overt, but more often hidden away. there is a view here

that the lack of british asians at the top level is partly due to deep—rooted racism among football's power brokers. it lies with the people who make the decisions and the people who generally make the decisions are coaches, scouts, managers. we don't have any people from ethnic background in those positions. 0nce from ethnic background in those positions. once we did get people in those positions, it will make a difference. some clubs are reaching out. chelsea, for example. 0veralla lot of clubs are ignorant to the problem. we need to get those networks in place with the british asian football communities and professional clubs. this event that bradford city was held to encourage people from ethnic minorities to get involved with a club. we have opened a new development centre which is an accessible location for a lot of people. we don't sit there and think, how do we only bring the