hello, i'm nick marshall—mccormack and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: zidane signs a new contract, as his real madrid side crawl into the quarter—finals of the copa del rey. novak is back. the elbow isn't100%, but it's good enough to beat dominic thiem. and this guy's dakar rally chances are all at sea, as his dreams are washed away. hi, there, wherever you are around the world. welcome to sport today. zinedine zidane signed a new contract which will keep him at real madrid until 2020. but he admits results will need to start going his way to keep him in thejob. zidane played an almost unrecognisable real madrid team, to struggle through to the copa del rey quarter finals against numancia. lucas vasquez scored twice, as did guillermo for the second division side. they laboured to a 2—2 draw but real took the tie 5—2 on aggregate.

earlier, alaves beat formentera 5—1 on aggregate and leganes are through to copa del rey quarter—finals for the first time in their 89 year history, at villarreal‘s expense. a week after a thrilling 2—2 premier league clash, chelsea and arsenal failed to reproduce that excitement. they drew 0—0 in an english league cup semi—final first leg. they'll go again at the emirates on the 24th of january. james vince and mark stoneman have retained their places in england's test squad for the tour of new zealand, despite their struggles with the bat in the 4—0 ashes defeat by australia. england have recalled fast bowler mark wood for their two—test series that starts in march. there's also a first call up for lancashire county captain liam livingstone, who replaces gary ballance. livingstone has been involved in england's limited overs squad before, but not in tests. 12 time tennis major winner

novak djokovic says his elbow still isn't100%, but it was good enough to beat dominic thiem in an exhibition match in melbourne. it was the serbs first competitive match since exiting from wimbledon lastjuly and he's looking a strong contender to challenge for the australian open. after six months out with a elbow injury, never djokovic is back and despite topping the 14th in the world the 12 time grand is one champion looked back to his best in melbourne against dominic thiem and wasn't hanging around, taking the open a 6—1. novak djokovic says he is still intending to play in the australian open next week as he hunts for a seventh title and if wednesday's performance was anything to go by he will be in with a good shout. calm and controlling as ever from the back of the courts, the former world number one still had the match wrapped up. former world number one still had

the match wrapped uplj former world number one still had the match wrapped up. i don't want to be overconfident and i don't want to be overconfident and i don't want to say it is 100%. i will say that when i start the tournament and i actually feel it is 100%. meanwhile things won't —— weren't going to plan for marriage village. in the decider this time his serve failed him. -- decider this time his serve failed him. —— marin cilic. eventually the error came and the match soon followed. in sydney, preparations continue ahead of the women's draw of the australian open. the wimbledon champion battled hard to ta ke wimbledon champion battled hard to take the opening set. even after a medical timeout. that had a defect of the world number three on court at least. she was still able to trade blows in a second set tie—break and then take the match in straight sets, but just tie—break and then take the match in straight sets, butjust hours later her aussie" hopes were thrown into

disarray, with a thigh injury forcing her to withdraw —— aussie hopes. petra kvitova made 3a u nforced hopes. petra kvitova made 3a unforced errors in a straight sets defeat to her italian opponent. she has lots of work to do and not warmed to do it. the chief executive of british cycling says chris froome remains "available for selection", while an adverse drugs test is being investigated. the four time tour de france champion had excessive levels of salbutamol in his urine which is medication he takes for his asthma. he's unlikely to represent team gb until the world road championships in september. but there's a chance his case may not have been resolved by then. of course it's a blow for his reputation, not just for of course it's a blow for his reputation, notjust for the reputation, notjust for the reputation but the rider, and it's been a challenging time both for chris and cycling in general to deal with that. in the months ahead he's

gotan with that. in the months ahead he's got an opportunity to prove why that finally took place. former light—welterweight world champion amir khan has announced has announced he'll be making a comeback later this year. it's nearly two years since his last fight which was a brutal defeat at the hands of canelo alvarez. khan is an olympic silver medallist and will fight in liverpool in april. his opponent will be announced next week. i never thought i would walk away... i never thought i would walk away... i never wanted to walk away with a defeat and without winning the world title, or with how things are the big fights. being 31, ifeel title, or with how things are the big fights. being 31, i feel better 110w big fights. being 31, i feel better now than when i was 28, so i know i've got a lot left in my tank and i think it's time to shine and show people where i belong. i think sometimes people forget how young i

was and are now at my peak. this time last year billy monger was being tipped by many as the next lewis hamilton. he was 17 and a star of formula 4 racing. but in april billy had both lower legs amputated after an accident. his recovery and determination since have astounded doctors and this week billy will be driving in front of crowds for the first time since his accident. tim muffett reports. billy whiz. nickname he was determined to keep. it'sjust nine months since billy monger had both his lower legs amputated after a car crash. this is a final practice before driving with a stunt team in birmingham. there was a slight moment when i thought i wouldn't drive again. the dream stays the same, buti drive again. the dream stays the same, but i want to be an f1 driver. you've got your prosthetics here.

you've got your prosthetics here. you are still able to control the carand you are still able to control the car and the pedals. that's really extraordinary. when you control the pedals normally you do at your ankle, that's how you control how much input you put into the pedals, but because i haven't got ankles the way i control it is just threw my leg, like this, ratherthan way i control it is just threw my leg, like this, rather than going like that, it's just a push leg, like this, rather than going like that, it'sjust a push motion instead to control the car. terry grand has been training him ahead of the auto sport international event — grow the auto sport international event —— grow three he is one of the world's top stunt drivers. dried out! —— drive out. billy is a very special lad for sure. at the moment we are rehearsing on an airfield. there will be concrete pillars where the cones are. four prosthetic legs it's phenomenal. although billy can

use the excel radar, his car is adapted so that this lever controls the break. he has been backed by a charity that typically helps wounded servicemen and women drive again, often in specially adapted cars. their freedom of mobility is a phenomenal thing for if that is taken away from you as an adult it has a dramatic effect on your life and on own personalfreedoms and also i think a lot of that is about your sense of self and freedom and to give that to somebody is an extraordinary thing to be able to do. what do your family think about it? my mum is very nervous. if i don't do it, what else am i going to don't do it, what else am i going to do with my life? billy monger, back in the driving seat. what an extraordinary inspiration he

is. 13 inspiration he time champion sebastian loeb has become the latest driver to be forced to abandon the dakar rally. the nine—time world rally championship winner withdrew from the race after his co—pilot daniel elena suffered an injury when their peugeot fell into a sand hole. yazeed al rajhi also had a bad day, realising his car was built for off—road, but not off—land. stephane peterha nsel extended his overall lead after winning the fifth stage. on wednesday, dakar motorbike champion sam sunderland quit injured. peugeot driver cyril despres was forced out, as was former football coach andre villas boas, who's recovering from a back injury in his first dakar rally. and finally, a future major league baseball star is born, or at least he was born a mere 22 months ago. meet asher willig. the son of former minor leaguer cory willig, has incredible hand eye co—ordination. how good is that connection and he's got the fist pump down pat too. and just in case you thought asher was having a lucky day out

in the batting cage, here he is at home, still being awesome. that's it for now. goodbye. good morning. fog is our talking point for the weather this morning, quite widespread fog, particularly across the western half of the british isles, and some dangerously dense patches to be found out there at the moment. the knock—on effects to travel certainly if you're heading on the roads, but also i think for some of our airports as well. a chilly start to thursday across scotland, with a frost here, and dense fog through the southern uplands, and the central lowlands. murky conditions across northern ireland for the rush—hour, as well, for the north—west of england, too. further east, it's murky conditions but for a slightly different reason, the remnants of a weather front here introducing a lot of moist air, so low cloud particularly

hanging across the hills. a chilly start for wales and the south—west of england here, with dense patches of fog that have fallen overnight, lingering across the west country, as well, making things pretty messy. then, in the east, some drizzly rain out of the remnants of our weather front. all in all, a pretty gloomy, murky start to thursday. in the west, i'm hopeful things will improve through the morning. the fog lifting up initially into cloud. then hopefully, perhaps over the moors and the south—west of wales, and, particularly for the north—west of england, it will break and allow through some sunshine. it looks like glasgow could be one of those areas where fog lingers, temperatures will really struggle. highs of somewhere between five and eight degrees, and, with the cloud in the east, even at eight degrees, nothing special here. thursday night into friday, a repeat performance. clear skies in the west, the fog will thicken, a patch of frost will develop, more breeze across ireland. in the east, though, the weather front close for a murky start. hopefully some hazy sunshine in the west as the day goes on and, perhaps, just perhaps,

a little bit more brightness across eastern england come the afternoon. temperatures again fairly unremarkable, somewhere around six or seven degrees. so, quite static for the uk for today and friday. further afield, into europe, our patchy fog could also be a problem across france and germany. if you're travelling down towards the med, this area of low pressure still causing problems with thunderstorms for the next 2a hours. for us, though, not a lot moving until this weather front tries to push in later on on friday. it gradually works its way eastwards through the weekend. most of the rain will be out of the way on friday night and then, basically, for the weekend, it's just going to introduce quite a lot of cloud and a strengthening breeze. so, this weekend, no really dramatic changes, largely dry, cloudy and breezy. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley.

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