want to say next round, but i don't want to say that this was easy. that is kind of arrogant. we have our problems, and our problems, as you say, they don't end in injuries but no team in the world would cope with injuries for such a long time. you can cope for one or two matches, you cannot cope for three or four months. elsewhere atalanta fans gathered en masse outside the mestalla in valencia asjosip ilic scored all four goals for the italian side in a 4—3 win handing them an 8—1; aggregate victory. this was a dark, because a lot of the times, former pros will tell you that playing again behind closed doors, you struggle for motivation. not for these two sides, they played an incredible game but as you said, there was no—one there to see it. atla nta's fairytale there was no—one there to see it. atlanta's fairytale debut goes on, the quarter—finals, but this game is full of goals stopping atlanta one a

penalty, kevin romero equalised for valencia, and they gave away actually second penalty of the game for him copy when you think it's all done, the level it up again and then valencia go in front, could that be a late chance will come back? but then too late goals complete the hat—trick, an incredible night for atla nta's. there was one match in the spain's la liga on tuesday. real sociedad's 2—1 win at eibar lifted the san sebastian side above atletico madrid and getafe up to fourth and just a point off third place. another day and more sport either cancelled or played behind closed doors, as the coronavirus continues to play havoc with the sporting calendar across the globe, so let's take a look at some news just in where. in the last hour manchester city's premier league match due to be played at home to arsenal later on wednesday has been postponed. it's emerged some of the arsenal personnel have been in contact

with olympiacos owner, evangelos marinakis, who has been named as a positive case of covid—i9. elsewhere, the champions league, last—16 second legs between bayern munich and chelsea, and barcelona v napoli on the 18th of march will be played behind closed doors. manchester united's europa league last—16 first leg at austrian side lask this thursday is also to be played behind closed doors. matches in the top two divisions in spain and france are to be played behind closed doors for at least the next two weeks, and this year's new york half marathon has been cancelled. it was due to take place in the city on sunday. in the united kingdom one thing that did go ahead was one of the biggest events of the horse racing calendar. the cheltenham festival takes place over four days and traditionally over 60,000 punters head through the gates every day. 0rganisers have put special measures in place for the festival, and our correspondent andy swiss was there as the first runners went to post.

the usual cues, the usual excitement, cheltenham knows these are not usual times. the focus on hygiene as much as authors, with 2a specially installed hand sanitising nations dotted around the course. but despite the concern over coronavirus, fans were happy to be there. we have no concerns personally but i'm very pleased they are taking extra precautions. did you think twice about coming here? no, definitely not. we were quite worried it might get called off. no, definitely not. we were quite worried it might get called offlj think there is a difference between here and the extent and china and italy. if it had got worse but we would have understood, but it is ok at the moment, no worries. cheltenham is one of british racing's biggest festivals stopping the normally fell about a quarter of a million ticket so there is a lot of relief here that it actually going ahead. but, like all sports, it is facing an unprecedented

challenge. many other countries have cancelled sporting events, but for now, the advice here in britain to carry on. it is very much reached government to take their own decisions. at the moment, those are due to continue and we will continue to do exactly what the government advises. but one of racing's biggest names is that these are worrying times. it is really frustrating that some sporting events might get cancelled and nobody really knows what is going to happen in the future, we are alljust hopeful that it doesn't get any worse and that we can stop it cancelling any of our fun, really. today's crowds are expected to be a few thousand lower than normal and friday's gold cup is not yet the usual sellout. cheltenham might be on, but british sport is facing an uncertain future. andy swiss reporting. 0n the course, however, the favourite epatante provided trainer nicky henderson

with a record eighth victory in the champion hurdle on the opening day of the festival. ridden by barry geraghty, thejp mcmanus—owned mare crossed the line an easy winner, with sharjah in second and darver star in third in what was also the perfect present for mcmanus on his 69th birthday. to cycling, and despite there being a ban on spectators on the finish line, the first major stage race of the calendar continues in france, as stage three of paris nice finished in a bunch sprint to the line in la chatre. the early stages of the race on wednesday were dominated by the belgian rider tom devrindt, whose breakaway efforts were thwarted by a passing train — but the closing stages were domintated by a crash involving irish rider sam bennett, which left the eventual winner ivan garcia cortina sprinting for the line and taking victory ahead of peter sagan. max schachman retains the race leader's yellow jersey. staying with ski jumping, in norway with the men's hs a0 cup, and third

place after his opening effort, but produced the longest jump place after his opening effort, but produced the longestjump of the competition in his second round. finished with 26a.3 .6. second place with 259 points and third with i.a points behind. a bit of breaking news, manchester city's match against arsenal which is due to be played on wednesday has been postponed due to arsenal personnel coming in contact with a coronavirus patient. but from me, tulsen tollett, and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. on tuesday we had a temperature of 16.5 degrees at kew gardens and in cambridgeshire, making it the warmest day of the year so far. for some southern parts of the uk, the air originated all the way

from the azores, hence that bit of warmth. further north, the air is cooler and it's the cooler air that will win out over the next few days. these shower clusters are heading into the north—west of the uk. this band of cloud, all that's left of the earlier rain taking some patchy rain and drizzle southwards into the english channel but keeping temperatures up across southern england and wales. colder air further north, though, and lots of showers packing into scotland and northern ireland. and here we'll have showers or longer spells of rain on wednesday. some heavy bursts of rain and snow of the hills of scotland. some of those hours will be blown into northern england and wales. towards the south—east of the uk, they get away with a dry day. it will be quite blustery out there, mind you, especially in those heavy showers and across the north—west of scotland, gusts of 50, maybe even 60 miles an hour. here, the air is a little bit cooler, but there's still warmth to be found across eastern parts of england, temperatures not far of what we saw on tuesday, ia—is degrees. but it will get colder, i think, later on in the week. and we've got this weather front taking some wetter weather

into england and wales on wednesday night. and it's behind that the area gets quite a bit colder and we see the snow level lowering on wednesday night in scotland and northern england. some icy conditions here as there could be in northern ireland as well. but the snow levels will rise, i think, on thursday. but we'lljust keep wetter weather piling into scotland and northern ireland, the winds strengthening as well and will blow some rain into the north—west of england. a few passing showers across southern parts of england and wales, they may get away with a dry day in the midlands. temperatures back to near where they should be for this time of year as they cooler air arrives. that area of low pressure keeps wetter weather going across the northern half of the uk during thursday evening, that pushes away and we get a ridge of high pressure in time for friday morning. so, it's a chilly start, yes, the winds will have eased and most places will start dry and sunny. it won't be too long, though, before the cloud bubbles up and spreads throughout the day. and those temperatures are still quite healthy for this time of year, 8—12 degrees. that rain will push its way eastwards on friday night, we'll see more rain arriving in the north—west of the uk on saturday. that then sweeps its down way into england and wales and cooler air follows into the north—west

on sunday with some sunshine and some blustery showers.

a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. 0ur news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: italy in lockdown, public gatherings forbidden, tourists boats verse chilly deserted. doctors give stark advice to the public. stay at home and be prepared for a kind of war, because we are facing a war nogueira. in the us, a i—mile containment zone is in place around new york suburb new rochelle, around a large cluster of cases. joe biden deals another blow to bernie sanders in the latest round of the us democratic primary. and president putin has backed amendments that could see him stay in power until 2036.