ggwsfi this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. centre. coming up on this programme. ajax are through to the last four of the champions league after the dutch side beat juventus in turin to claim a 3—2 aggregate victory. lionel messi scores twice as barcelona also make it through to the semi finals with a 4—0 aggregate win over manchester united and novak djokovic is through to the third round of the monte carlo masters, but not without difficulty. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with the news that ajax have knocked juventus out of the champions league at the quarter final stage. despite cristiano ronaldo handing the italians the advantage, two goals from the dutch side saw them through, while barcelona are also in the last four after easing past manchester united. a short time ago i spoke to our football reporter

john bennett who told me that is was a stylish performance from ajax. ajax into the last four of the champions league for the first time since 1997 and they did it in style. the ajax way. quality on the ball and character. cristiano ronaldo with a header. they thought maybe juventus would run away with it but ajax started to play the football again and six minutes after rinaldo‘s goal, donny van de beek scored. matthijs the ligt with a brilliant header. he sums them up, the captain, 19 years old, will audibly leave at the end of the season. audibly leave at the end of the season. what a performance, we can no longer write off ajax. munich, madrid in the second leg and now juventus with a 2—1win in turin. we

can't write off ajax. they've been the story of this champions league campaign. you would not want to meet them in the semifinals. spurs next. manchester united showing they are a long way from where they need to be. barcelona, a class above. united did start well, rushford hitting the woodwork but as soon as messi got the opening goal, it was a class above —— apart. the most interesting moment for me, right at the start of the second half, a trademark goal scored by coutinho, the client to use to score for liverpool. he didn't smile at all, fascinating celebration. very angry about the treatment he's had from the barcelona fans. they've not been happy with him and he is not happy with the fans. interesting celebration. barcelona go on and a lot of work for manchester united.

they are a long way off the quality needed to challenge for trophies and after a great start from solskjaer, they have a fight on their hands for they have a fight on their hands for the next champions league. we spoke to our players as well that we need to get the best out of each other, create an environment of top, top, top class attitude, world—class attitude every single day because we've got good players and good players to work with. as i've said, at the moment, we really, really done well to get to the quarters here, we really done well to get the challenge for the top four. the battle to see who stays up in the premier league is reaching a thrilling conclusion after cardiff city won 2—0 at brighton. the result means cardiff who occupy the last of the relegation places are now just two points behind brighton, who've conceded seven goals in two home matches and scored none, but chris hughton‘s side do have a game in hand. nathaniel mendez laing scored

the opener with a wonderful curling shot before sean morrison doubled the lead for neil warnock‘s side after the half time interval. top seed and world number one novak djokovic reached the third round of the monte carlo masters on tuesday, but was given a mighty test by germany's philipp kohlschreiber, the man who beat him in straight sets at indian wells last month. for details of that and the other highlights here's paul frostick. novak djokovic has suffered a couple of disappointing results in recent weeks but is 2.5— hour stint on court should get him warmed up nicely for the rest of the play season. nicely for the rest of the play season. the serb suffered surprise defeats in indian wales in miami but took the first set 6—4 against kohlschreiber. then, frustration, his serve broken four times in a second set that contained seven brea ks second set that contained seven breaks in all. kohlschreiber

levelled, but then his resistance began to fade. a 3— set win for djokovic who arrives at the french open next month with the chance to become the first man to hold all four grand slams at the same time. win isa four grand slams at the same time. win is a win and it's a rusty first round, i meanfirst win is a win and it's a rusty first round, i mean first match on clay season for me, and i kind of expect that. this surface is completely different from everything else and very demanding. tsonga's time in monte very demanding. tsonga's time in m o nte carlo very demanding. tsonga's time in monte carlo was over, the number five forced to retire against taylor fritz of the united states, who will face diego schwartzman of argentina in round 2. what a comeback for marco cecchinato. he battled back to beat stan wawrinka. the number 11 seed look down and out after the

2014 champion served the match at 5— fourin 2014 champion served the match at 5— four in the second set but cecchinato broke serve, levelled the match and set up a remarkable turnaround. he will now face the world number 35 after he dumped out number seven seed marin cilic. he was playing his first match on clay after losing to del potro last year. he led early on but had a succession of matches in both the second and third set. boxing now and amir khan says some of the abuse he receives on social media has been quite hurtful. he'll attempt to become a world champion again on saturday in new york when he takes on unbeaten wbo welterweight champion terence crawford at madison square garden. at a media work out ahead of the bout, he told our reporter ade adedoyin a victory will help to win over some of his detractors.

amir khan has been a household name since the athens olympics in 2004. it was a world champion by the age of 22 but despite his successes in the ring, he still polarises opinion, may be because of some of his high—profile losses that he suffered along the way. his private life became very public in the last few years. he told me victory at this iconic venue will help to rejuvenate his career and he also admitted some of the abuse that he receives on social media about his career in private life has affected him. you see there is a lot of stuff going on, what islam teaches you his peace and love. a handful of people spoil it for us all and that's what's been happening with all the terrorism that is going on, it makes it hard for people like me. i'm representing my come —— country,

boxing, representing for the other muslims out there in the world but there are still a handful of people who are doing wrong and those handful of people make it hard for us handful of people make it hard for us to do well in our careers. crawford, one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world and the american believes the trigger on saturday night will perhaps give him a crossover appeal that's been lacking so far. the welterweight division, the fight, and a welterweight division. i feel like division, the fight, and a welterweight division. ifeel like i get respect. some people discredit me, a diehard battle. some of the greatest fighters in history of fortier at madison square garden including mohammed a—league, joe fraser and mark —— mike tyson and these two will be hoping to set up

another special night on saturday. to cricket and bangladesh have named uncapped pace bowler abu jayed in their squad for the world cup. jayed has played only five tests and three t20 internationals but was picked on his performances in the two—test series in new zealand, where he finished as leading wicket—ta ker. mashrafe mortaza has been named captain as bangladesh begin their bid for the world cup against south africa on the 2nd ofjune in london. the build up to the inaugural w—series season continued on tuesday with testing at lausitzring in germany.the six race series begins at hockenheim over the weekend of the 4th and 5th of may and the 18 women involved aren'tjust there to make up the numbers. i want to race at the top level and race against the best in the world and whether that is 21 other mail drivers on the formula 1 grid or 21 of the female drivers, i want to race against the best. you can get all the latest sports

news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport.but from me tt and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there, good morning. as expected, tuesday was a cloudy day for many of us. rain and drizzle around as well. and this was the scene, actually, in the north—west of england where it was quite a bit cooler thanks to that rain and drizzle and low cloud. but we had a taste of things to come in cornwall. the sun was out and it was a good deal warmer as well. and we're going to find more sunshine more widely as we into the easter weekend. and as a result it will be turning warmer everywhere. now, still some cloud on the scene. this cloud is heading towards iberia to bring some cooler, wetter weather. this cloud brought the rain

and drizzle earlier on. that it is tending to peter out all the while. it's a little bit damp across western scotland. further south, clearing skies means some mist and fog forming in wales, the midlands, and parts of southern england. that will take a little while to clear away in the morning. the drizzle won't last long in western scotland. the cloud breaks, the sunshine develops more widely. but we could bubble up a bit of cloud from east anglia towards the pennines and maybe squeeze out an isolated late shower. on the whole, it's a dry and a warm afternoon, with temperatures getting up to 19 or 20 and the south—east of england. the only downside with this warmth and sunshine — high pollen levels across england and wales in particular. but as we head into the evening and overnight, we've got to watch out towards the east to see some mist and low cloud coming in off the north sea. that will push its way further inland across northern areas. so a bit misty and murky in the hills and chilly around some rural areas. those are the temperatures in towns and cities. it will, however, get warmer as we head towards easter. really warming up, actually, across central europe. and this is where our air is going to be coming from,

hence those rising temperatures on that south—easterly breeze. there will be some mist and cloud around to begin with on thursday. that cloud tending to break up. sunshine developing quite widely. south—easterly breezes. still a little bit cooler around some of those north sea coasts, eastern scotland, northeast england. but otherwise temperatures are continuing to rise, 20 or 21 is quite likely on thursday. friday, hardly a cloud in the sky. a beautiful day, good friday. we'll see lots of sunshine. this light south to south—easterly breeze putting that warmth northwards. so 21 or 22 through the central belt of scotland. 22 or 23 from london through the midlands to the north—west of england. this is a flavour of what's to come over the easter weekend. the peak of the heat likely to be on saturday. northern areas terminal cloudy. maybe seeing some rain, particularly on sunday. but the southeast still dry with some sunshine.

welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president macron promises notre—dame cathedral will be rebuilt within five years, donations have already reached almost $1 billion. ecuador‘s president tells the bbc the shocking details that led to him ending julian assange's asylum. the stage is set for indonesia's elections — but religious issues are crowding out many other concerns. the push for power in afghanistan — how women's roles are changing in the deeply conservative country.