this is sport today and these are your top stories. they were one goal from being knocked out last year, now atalanta are favourites to reach a first champions league quarterfinal. the gloves are off in las vegas — or, they've not been put on yet. yes, this isjust the press conference for the heavyweight rematch between wilder and fury. and she won — but we'll tell you how close simona halep was from exiting the dubai championship. welcome along. cricket on the way later, too, but we'll start in europe where two clubs made their debuts in the european champions league knockouts on wednesday. that didn't hold rb leipzig or atalanta back, though. leipzig were 1—0 winners at tottenham while atalanta stunned valencia 4—1 in the san siro to put one foot in the last eight. all the more impressive given

that they had no points from their first three group games. john bennett's been looking back on the night's two matches. it was billed as the biggest night in atalanta's history and it went perfectly. incredible performance was that if you get the chance to watch atalanta, make sure you do because they play some wonderful attacking football. the manager encourages everyone to push forward. they put so many men forward and they deserve their 4—1 win. scoring they deserve their 4—1 win. scoring the first and fourth goal at the neverland international —— netherland's international. the third goal was a curling shot and the keeper didn't even move. ata la nta the keeper didn't even move. atalanta was my greatest strength is their biggest weakness. they commit so many men forward and there is space at the back. they did get an

away goal to give them a glimmer of hopein away goal to give them a glimmer of hope in the second leg. i don't think it is totally over because valencia will create chances in the second leg but atalanta will feel in the champions league they have one foot in. it is hard to overcome in the champions league. turning your attention to last is an's beaten finalists, then, tottenham, green universe the mini marino and the mini marino them out on top —— the original maurinho avers the mini maurinho. rb leipzig league on great form in the bundesliga. —— are in great form. clear penalties and werner stepped up. he has scored three champions league goals in his career, all the way from home. it

gives rb leipzig a massive opportunity to get through to the last date for the first time in their history. so in their second ever champions league campaign, their first ever champions league campaign, theirfirst time in ever champions league campaign, their first time in the knockout round, the head coach is the youngest ever manager to lead a team in the knockout rounds of this competition. so it's a great opportunity for the german side. from europe to asia next. the coronavirus is still preventing chinese clubs beginning their asian champions league campaigns. the japanese ones can play and they're enjoying life too. in group h, thej—league champions yokohama brushed sydney aside for their second win in a row. teruhito nakagawa scored twice in three minutes to put the japanese side 3—0 up by half time. ado onaiwu also scored a brace in their 4—0 win on wednesday. vissel kobe's debut in the competition continues to be an impressive one. two wins from two with kyogo furuhashi's last—minute goals earning them a 1—0 at suwon.

manchester city ran out 2—0 winners against west ham in the premier league in the first game since they were banned from european football for two years for breaching financial fair play rules. it was a fairly routine night on the pitch for city, who rarely looked trouble against the team third from bottom. rodri scored the opening goal of the game after 30 minutes — nodding in kevin de bruyne's corner. the belgian international then scored the second himself midway through the second half. city are still second and 22 points behind leaders liverpool. well as you can imagine, much of the talk after the game wasn't on the football but city's punishment handed down on friday by uefa. manager pep guardiola said he trusts the club "ioo%" with city set to appeal the their ban. guardiola was also asked if he'd still be there regardless. if they don't sack me i will be here, so, no matter what happens. i love this club.

so i've said it before, it happened, i like it here, this is my club, and i will be here no matter what happens. but that is not important or relevant because you know how tough we work and the people will do what we have to do. and hopefully, if we qualify for the champions league, because we deserve it, on the pitch next season we can play it. now, what happens when you take two boxers who've got a history of not liking each other very much, who've already spent 12 rounds previously trying to knock each other out and then put them on a stage together? well, rather unsurprisingly — you get deontay wilder and tyson fury take two. and this was just the press conference for their heavyweight title rematch in las vegas on saturday. when the shoving match was over — they started exchanging verbal blows. this is what i've been preparing

myself for. this is what i have been waiting so many months for. this could have happened a long time ago but somebody held it back. could have happened a long time ago but somebody held it backli could have happened a long time ago but somebody held it back. i give him his biggest paydays of his whole life was that got him a big contract with showtime, brought him to the biggest stage in the world, las vegas, and this is how he thanks me! he has a whole lot of appreciation for someone who has fed him, look after him and put millions in his account. wilder, and this is a big act for him. he's very nervous today. i see his heart pumping out of his chest through hisjumper. doof doof! he's terrified. he's nervous as hell. he doesn't know what to expect. this is unfinished business, as i said. like i said, you know, we're picking up where we left off, but he didn't change his game, he didn't change his whole team, he didn't change up a thing, so i can't speak to him. but i'm picking up where i left off.

i'm calmer, more patient and devastating. world number two simona halep will face aryna sabalenka in the quarterfinals of the dubai tennis championship — but she only just scraped her way there. she was a set down and saved a match point against tunisian ons jabeur in her second round match. she came through a final set tie—break, saying she had to fight for every ball. she could meet garbine muguruza in the semis. the spaniard also needed three sets against russia's veronika kudermetova — but came through 6—4 in the decider. she'll play american qualifier jennifer brady in the last eight. in the other half of the draw, it was rather more straightforward for karolina pliskova. the world number three dropped just three games in her straight sets victory over kristina mladenovic. pliskova, who reached the final of this event in 2015, will face the unseeded elena rybakina from kazakhstan in the last eight. rory mcilroy says he will not play in the proposed breakaway

premier golf league. the tournament would be an 18—event grand prix—style world tour, with a prize fund of $240 million, said to rival the pga tour, if it goes ahead. tiger woods and justin rose have both been approached but the world number one says it's not for him. the one thing is a personal golfer in my position is the fact i value i have autonomy and freedom over what i do. this is a perfect example. some guys this week had the choice not to come to mexico. if you want to play in this other golf league, you won't have that choice. for me, imight, my you won't have that choice. for me, i might, my position is i am against it and sell there may come a day i can't be against it, if everyone goes, i might not have a choice. —— iam against goes, i might not have a choice. —— i am against it and until. the sixth season of the pakistan super league will begin in the few

hours with the opening match showcasing the defending champions quetta gladiators. new zealand batsman ross taylor admits he wasn't sure if he'd play test cricket again after his debut — let alone reach 100 test appearances. he'll reach the landmark in the first test between new zealand and india in wellington on friday. he'll also become first in international cricket to reach a hundred appearances in all three formats. stephen fleming, daniel vettori and brendan mccullum are the only other players to achieve the feat for new zealand in test matches. ijust got a i just got a call from ijust got a call from brandon before we got here saying all the best. he said do better than he did, i don't know what he got in his game. i asked i don't know what he got in his game. iasked if i don't know what he got in his game. i asked if there are any tips on how to deal with tickets and things like that but no. you know, thatis things like that but no. you know, that is great — i got a mention last night as well and it is a special clu b to night as well and it is a special club tojoin. brendan mccullin made a dark and his tea m brendan mccullin made a dark and his team lost by an innings in his 100th appearance. as always the bbc sport website and app can keep you right up to date at all times of day. we'll do our best to do the same

when you join us next time on sport today. from all of the team here at the bbc sports centre, thanks for watching. bye. hello there. we have a number of severe flood warnings still in force across parts of the country and particularly in england and we have more rain in the forecast, which is going to exacerbate this issue. the met office has yellow warnings for rain in parts of wales, north—west england and south—west scotland. these areas seeing quite a lot of rain by the time we end thursday. this is the pressure chart. you can see this weather front responsible for bringing the rain to the north and west of the country. a slow—moving feature but as we head through the course of thursday, it will start to move southeastwards quite quickly. skies will be brightening up across scotland and northern ireland during the morning. this band of rain will be pushing across england and wales and some of it will be quite heavy. we could see a short lived, very heavy spell of rain as it moves its way southeastwards, accompanied by hale, very squally winds and some thunder

and lightning as well. temperatures will be on the mild side but behind it as it moves through, the skies will brighten up, but temperatures will drop fairly dramatically. some sun shining behind this further north in the afternoon with lots of showers. these will be falling as snow on the mountains of scotland and maybe even down to the lower levels. and if you add on the strong and gusty winds, could see some blizzard conditions on the mountain tops. that rain clears the south—east on during thursday evening and during thursday night it's going to be a breezy one. windy in the north with showers or longer spells of rain but the snow levels will rise as temperatures rise here. further south and east, could be quite chilly for a time to start friday morning. this is the picture then for friday: another system moving in, lots of isobars on the charts. but an even windier day and it will be quite wet across the north. it is looking like a north—south divide, tending to stay drier in the south with some sunshine albeit very windy. north wales, northern england and scotland and northern ireland will see outbreaks of rain, particularly across the western

hills and quite a lot of rain at that too. a very windy day, widespread gales could cause issues to the east of the pennines there. very gusty indeed and stronger than that across north—west scotland. temperature—wise on the mild side with double—figure values across the board. for friday night, stays wet across the northern half of the country and tends to be drier in the south and remains windy. into saturday, stays u nsettled u nfortu nately. we got further very windy weather on saturday and some wintry showers in the north. this feature will move in for sunday will bring parts of england and wales for more prolonged periods of rain. an unsettled weekend to come. saturday, sunshine and showers. wintry in the north, very strong winds in the northern areas and some of us could see more prolonged rain on sunday.

welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: the un warns of a potentially huge human cost as fighting in syria's last rebel stronghold draws close to densely—populated civilian areas. ebrahim says they fled the village in italy because of bombing. the war keeps catching up bombing. the war keeps catching up wherever they go —— idlib. a police hunt is under way in germany for gunmen who shot dead eight people. we'll bring you the latest. ready for his close up. multi—billionaire michael bloomberg is to make his big tv debut in the race for the us presidency. as the spread of the coronavirus continues, criticism of how japan has handled a cruise ship