good evening, this is bbc news, the headlines. the number of coronavirus cases in the uk has risen to 373 and a 6000 has died as officials warned that the peak could come in a fortnight. that's right for a sixth person has died. —— a six person has died. the first day of nationwide current time gets under way in italy. and british airways and ryanair has cancelled all flights between the uk and italy until early april. the government has seen off a

rebellion by senior conservatives over its plans to allow chinese telecoms company huawei a role in the country'sfive g network. in edinburgh, former first minister alex and is on trial for sexual assault. 0ne alex and is on trial for sexual assault. one of his accusers says she felt scared to come forward. —— former first minister alex salmond. ina in a moment, sports day, but first, look at what else is coming up this evening. as the death toll from coronavirus rises in italy, will speak to a resident of the southern italian town about life under the new lockdown rules. coming up at 7pm, the beyond 100 days team will look at how president trump is handling the virus in the united states. and it's likely the coronavirus will dominate tomorrow morning's front pages so dominate tomorrow morning's front pages so dojoin dominate tomorrow morning's front pages so do join us for a look at the papers later this evening. that's all ahead, but now, time for sports day.

hello, i'm 0lly foster, here's what's coming up on sportsday this evening. they're off — we'll be live at cheltenham shortly on the first day of the festival as the favourite comes home in the champion hurdle. spurs need goals to reach the champions league quarterfinals, but have they got anybody to score them? we'll have the latest from leipzig. there'll be a crowd there, but european football is in retreat because of the coronaviirus, behind closed doors or in lockdown, —— because of the coronavirus, chelsea will play behind closed doors next week at bayern. also coming up in the programme... can the lionesses go out on a high at the shebelieves cup? we'll be live in texas. and start spreading the news, they want to be a part of it! will new york have a

super league team one day? hello and welcome to sportsday. it's been another one of those days, more measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak affecting sport. how long before all european football will be played behind closed doors or postponed? we will of course have the latest developments later. but let's start with a sporting event that has gone ahead, the cheltenham festival, a celebration of national hunt racing over four days. let's cross live to the course, laura scott is there for us. the punters love it when the favourite comes home first, and nicky henderson just loves cheltenham.

he really does, and he had the perfect start to the festival. he w011 perfect start to the festival. he won the first race and then the feature race of the day, the champion hurdle. epatante came home co mforta bly champion hurdle. epatante came home comfortably in the end and that race, with that feature race of the day, and it was a real excitement for the crowd here to see that favourite come home. and it means with those two wins today that nicky henderson has returned to being the festival's winning most trainer. it's a euro's effort from everybody, from the whole team, and these are the four days that count more than anything in the world. i don't think anybody disagrees with that. we are going to have lots of fun at aintree and other things but i can't win a grand national anyway, what's the

point? no, this is where it counts. and this has been a very lucky race for us. this is where it counts forjump jockeys, jump trainers, leading jockeys, jump trainers, leading jockeys, rachael blackmore, she has had a fantastic season, many people tipped to be the leading jockey come the end of the week, she's got some great rides coming up, she caused a bit ofan great rides coming up, she caused a bit of an upset in the mares hurdle. she did, she was riding honeysuckle in the mares hurdle and it was a real battle to the finishing post, and rachael blackmore was really praise for the ride she gave honeysuckle and she arguably got the biggest cheer of the day when she returned to the winning enclosure. she's a really popularjockey, a lot of people think she's incredibly exciting and she had that big win today. we'll see how she goes for the rest of the week. building up to gold cup day, of course, on friday, attendance really

down on last year when you look at last yea r‘s down on last year when you look at last year's opening day for the business because of coronavirus views? yes, i think the jockey club we re views? yes, i think the jockey club were anticipating a fall in ticket sales. let's sing it in the build—up to the festival and actually, none of the day so far have sold out so far, including what was traditionally the most popular day of the week. so ticket sales affected by the outbreak, some people choosing to stay at home, and there was signs of coronavirus here, of what they're doing to take there we re of what they're doing to take there were 2a hand sanitiser stations here, extra toilet facilities, tissue being handed out to people on arrival, posters and how they should wash their hands. so you could get a sense of the outbreak has affected sport, but a real sense of relief here at cheltenham that racing was able to get and that it could take centre stage with the horses and

fa ns centre stage with the horses and fans here cheltenham. many thanks indeed. so cheltenham is up and running, let's get to the football tonight. tottenham lost to leipzig 1—nil almost three weeks ago in the first leg of their champions league tie, more injuries mean that jose mourinho's squad is down to the bare bones in germany tonight. ian dennis and rob green are there for us. the site behind me, an empty stadium, is going to be a regular occurrence in the next few weeks across sporting stadiums on the continent but for tonight, it will be full, as leipzig take on totte n ha m. be full, as leipzig take on tottenham. spurs are a goal down from the first leg three weeks ago, and providing commentary on bbc five live tonight will be rob green, former england goalkeeper, and it will be a tough task for spurs to turnit will be a tough task for spurs to turn it around. yes, huge order, and looking at the game for the first leg, they took a bit of a battering at times, the manner of defeat is quite worrying for them. how they go

about this, insert of the way that they have to win this game, and the way they approach it with all the injuries, the lack of form recently, is going to be a really big ask. in terms of the injuries, the latest injury casualty is bergwijn, he could be out for the rest of the season could be out for the rest of the season with an ankle problem, there are already missing kane and son, influential players, how will they cope without that threat? yes, tach is the best form of defence sometimes and it's going to be a difficult one forjose mourinho in terms of whether he goes back to his way of parking the bus and a proper, dog—eared european way of parking the bus and a proper, dog—ea red european away way of parking the bus and a proper, dog—eared european away performance, but if you don't start asking questions upfront, there are never really going to cause any problems, and we saw that in the first leg when they were just played around, they really couldn't cope with the overloading. so it's going to be a real headache and wouldn't bet they have to solve that in the game. and the person they need to keep an eye

on, timo werner, scored 27 goals this season, but was equally impressive, former goalkeeper, clean sheets, five clean sheets in the last six games. they're really impressive, playing top teams, is what bayern munich and barry levick is on, it's looking pretty tall order. —— bayern munich and bayer leverkusen. really impressive in the first leg, and you look at it and say, it's going to be a huge ask. thank you very muchjose mourinho says they will give it a go, we will find out. commentary from etienne. spurs with it all to do, one other champions league tie tonight, valencia against atalanta behind closed doors, why‘s that? joe lynskey is here with the daily coronavirus update. it just feels like football is slowly shutting down across europe. manchester united and chelsea affected by this.

france and spain are the latest european country to take sport behind closed doors to contain the coronavirus outbreak. that means two more champions league fixtures been played without fans, including chelsea's second leg against bayern munich, because of a local ruling in bavaria that means no supporters at that match, which bayern the lead 3—0 on aggregate. in spain, even wider measures announced today, meaning barcelona, the last 16 second leg, as well, five—time european champions, of course, they'll play a knockout game next week in an empty stadium at the iconic new camp, and that'll be the case for all domestic matches in spain. the top domestic divisions for the next fortnight, la liga and the segunda division is, will be behind close doors for the next two weeks at least, that's because of guidance from spain's ministry of health. the decisions of individual nations are making things more

complicated in european football competitions, there is a full round of fixtures in the europa league on thursday, but manchester united will play their first match against lask in the north of austria without fans watching. and that's also the case as it stands for wolves, who are playing away at greek side 0lympiacos on thursday. as it scheduled, that's behind closed doors right now, but the premier league side have now written to european footballs governing body asking to postpone the match completely, which is in part down to the fact that 0lympiacos's owner admitted it day in a public statement that he has coronavirus, evangelos marinakis is also the owner of nottingham forest and it's understood he showed symptoms of the disease after returning from a recent visit to greece. we will wait and see what happens with that match, and we also, things are still

up match, and we also, things are still up in the air with another europa league match on thursday, scheduled to ta ke league match on thursday, scheduled to take place right in the heart of the italian outbreak in the north of there. all sports suspended from the time being, inter milan were due to play the spanish side get tati in the europa league as well. —— back spanish side getafe was up as it stands, this is going on behind closed doors, normally the away side would have to be in the city 2a hours before, but they have asked if they can arrive on the same day, they've asked for special permission to do that. milan are also wondering if they will have any domestic matches less to play this season, serra is —— serie a is off, and the season might not finish at all. the number of games to catch up, there's no way the season is going to be completed. and there is speculation today of everything from

summer tournaments to catch up, to not assigning a league winner this season. but even if you take that sort of really drastic step, which of course would be massive, massive blow to italian football after a really good title race, even if you make that decision, what you do about relegation, about the teams that are going to be in next year's european competitions? there are so many layers to be unpicked here and i think it's really almost unknowable. . the reason it's so difficult to fit fixtures in is because euro 2020 starts in earlyjune. the final places at that tournament are decided in the play—offs at the end of march, but they too will be affected. the republic of ireland will play slovakia behind closed doors in bratislava and northern ireland against bosnia looks set to be the same. ticket sales have been suspended for that match. you're going through this list, football u naffected you're going through this list, football unaffected in this country on the home front, but you sense

it's just a matter of time now, surely? yes, i will show your picture here, of what effectively the picture is for football in europe at the moment. all the countries highlighted have measures in place for large sporting events, football suspended completely in italy and switzerland, and in france, spain and parts of germany, we now know there's going to be at least a fortnight of matches played behind closed doors, in fact ruling in the last hour in bavaria has made bayern the chelsea played behind closed doors. the premier league is one of the bus division still standing with normal matches in place, with belgium and holland, where it's still business as usual, but there's a feeling amongst clubs that they expect games to be played behind closed doors at some point soon, and manchester city's pep guardiola has given thoughts. this is for the people. it's like an actor going to the theatre and go there and there's nobody in the future for whom to act this night.

it's for the people. it makes no sense. we are here for the people. of course, if it's one game, two ins, ican of course, if it's one game, two ins, i can understand, but if it's longer, the reason why you're a journalist is to write for the people. i play, we play for the people. i play, we play for the people. if the people cannot be here, there there's no sense. city due to play real madrid in the champions league next tuesday the 17th. we'll have to see where we are in a wea k‘s we'll have to see where we are in a weak‘s time. taking it day by day, really. england lionesses are in texas ahead of their final match at the shebelieves cup, they play spain tomorrow night. they beat japan last time out after an opening defeat to the hosts the usa. let's cross live to frisco, just on the ouskirts of dallas, our sports correspondent katie gornall is there. katie, england had chances to win by more than the one late goal, they'll want to be more

ruthless againt spain?