a re are caught up now. have a you are caught up now. have a good night. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm jane dougall. liverpool on the brink of the last 16. a mo salah penalty gives them a sixth win in the champions league. victory for villa too — they score three to go third in the table, beating rb leipzig in germany. fifa is criticised for their "flawed process" to choose the host of the 2034 world cup. sole bidder saudi arabia is expected to be awarded the tournament.

hello there. we start with the champions league and six wins from six means liverpool stay top of the table after beating girona in spain. mo salah scored the only goal of the match after the visitors were awarded a penalty. liverpool are all but through to the last 16 and face lille away and psv eindhoven at home injanuary. our senior football reporter ian dennis and former liverpool midfielder stephen warnock were watching. the knockout stages beckoned for liverpool and, realistically, when you look at it is hard to see them not being in the top two, which means they would be seated in the knockout stages of this revised format and in process tonight, stephen, they have the abang club record of five successive clean sheets. as nearly nine hours of football since they conceded their only goal in this campaign.- goal in this campaign. yeah, they were — goal in this campaign. yeah, they were lucky _ goal in this campaign. yeah, they were lucky not - goal in this campaign. yeah, they were lucky not to - goal in this campaign. yeah, i they were lucky not to concede tonight, but credit to the goal keeper, alisson, came back in

after 11 games and really showed that quality with 45 big saves, so they can give him a pat on the back tonight. liverpool probably won't at their best, however what an impressive start, six from six. it's quite brilliant, isn't it, at the end of the day you don't look at the game after the result comes in you look at this goal line as a liverpool have done it again. they were tried and tested tonight and stood strong at times. the game management was met in the second half that they could not have dreamt of a better start in this competition. figs have dreamt of a better start in this competition.— in this competition. as for jerona, in this competition. as for jerona. a _ in this competition. as for jerona, a wonderful - in this competition. as forl jerona, a wonderful season in this competition. as for- jerona, a wonderful season last jerona, a wonderful season last season, finishing third, the first—ever time in european competition, arsenal will come here in 50 days' time, they have struggled in your�*s elite competition. have struggled in your's elite competition.— competition. they have lost -robabl competition. they have lost probably seven _ competition. they have lost probably seven key - competition. they have lost probably seven key players| competition. they have lost - probably seven key players from last year's tee came third in the leg undeservedly got into this competition but when you come into the champions league it is a step up in class and they have just struggled this season with one win in the condition so far and itjust shows you the golfing class when it comes to the champions

league. —— golf in class. as you heard, it was keeper alisson�*s first match back since october. his manager was impressed with him., but that didn't extend to the rest of the team. we have an incredible goal keeper, every time we lost a ball we were not aggressive enough, every time we lost a ball they could just almost, every time go to our goal having a shot or a blocked shot and we could attack again. so hardly any control at all of the game. maybe the second half was a bit better, but, yeah — i'm trying to be positive. liverpool were one of three british clubs in action in the champions league. aston villa beat rb leipzig 3—2 in a fast paced, exciting match in germany. villa scored in the first three minutes of the match and, despite leading twice, were pegged back, before they scored a dramatic late winner to take all three points. bbc 5 live commentator alistair bruce—ball was watching with former england keeper paul robinson alongside him. so, aston villa come out on top in a topsy—turvy game in

leipzig, got themselves in front, they were peg back, got themselves in front again, peg back again, eventually ross barkley wanted with a deflected winner in the 85th minute of the game. why watched it with former england gamekeeper paul robinson, that is a huge win for aston villa in terms of hours at them up for potential qualification now, for automatic qualification for the last 16. it automatic qualification for the last 16. c, , automatic qualification for the last 16. ., , c, automatic qualification for the last 16. ., c, . last 16. it was a fantastic performance _ last 16. it was a fantastic performance from - last 16. it was a fantastic performance from them. last 16. it was a fantastic - performance from them. we know leipzig lost their previous games coming into the game tonight was a must win for them tonight. that made it more difficult for aston villa to come here. i think defensively they look comfortable apart from the mistakes that they cost the me too goals, are visibly going forward, rogers was outstanding, and jhon visibly going forward, rogers was outstanding, anthon duran they have a superstar. jhan they have a superstar. jhon duran scored _ they have a superstar. jhon duran scored one _ they have a superstar. jhon duran scored one and - they have a superstar. jhon duran scored one and had l they have a superstar. jhon duran scored one and had one disallowed, came at halftime for ollie watkins was it is greenleigh for ollie watkins was it is greenleithack leslie, jhon greenleigh jack leslie, jhon duran seems greenleithack leslie, jhon duran seems to be fun. on the goals that bilic conceded that we should not focus for because they won the game, both times it seems that you have been in this position as a goalkeeper, martin is came for a goal and

then came back and then there was confusion with him and the defenders. was confusion with him and the defenders-_ defenders. the verse when he should have _ defenders. the verse when he should have taken _ defenders. the verse when he should have taken charge - defenders. the verse when he should have taken charge of. defenders. the verse when he i should have taken charge of the situation, game 23 bulletin already situation, you can see everything, they communicate with the zaventen he did not read write, and the second goal leipzig school, it is not an error but he should have gone for the 3—ball. because of a mistake you made the first tarfi retreated back to his line is it to make a decision to be bold and positive. above is no mistake he played reasonably well and made them says they kept his seaman again, there gosder could been avoided from villa's point of view. �* , ., . , view. aston villa third energy enviously _ view. aston villa third energy enviously table, _ view. aston villa third energy enviously table, the - view. aston villa third energy enviously table, the last - view. aston villa third energy enviously table, the last two | enviously table, the last two games away to monaco and then the final group game at home to celtic at the end of january. we are within 15 points, of course we are now recovering oui’ course we are now recovering our confidence, some players as well are feeling better and hopefully keep going and keep

time to be consistent, then the match on saturday against nottingham forest, in premier league, but of course champions league, but of course champions league at the moment we are really feeling strong and feeling comfortable. the third british team in action on tuesday was celtic, but they finished goalless against dinamo zagreb. in the other fixtures, there were five goals in the match between atalanta and real madrid, real winning 3—2. bayer leverkussen beat inter 1—0 — they're now second in the table. it finished 2—1 to club brugge against sporting. and bayern munich beat shaktar donetsk 5—1. more details on all the matches on the bbc sport website. over the past decade or so, the sporting landscape has shifted towards the middle east and the huge wealth of the gulf states. saudi arabia's portfolio of events is constantly expanding and tomorrow they are expected to land the greatest prize — the 2034 world cup. it's a controversial choice and how they got to this point is complex.

fourteen months ago, morocco, portugal, and spain were given the green light to host the 2030 tournament — that will also be ratified tomorrow — the opening three matches will actually take place in uruguay, argentina and paraguay. that suddenly ruled out a lot of options for the 2034 edition. it couldn't go to europe, africa, or the americas because of fifa's 12 year continental rotation policy. the very next day, fifa opened the process for 2034, giving interested parties less than a month to submit bids. saudi arabia were ready with theirs, but potential hosts australia and new zealand were caught on the hoof and, ultimately withdrew. a month later, despite long—standing concerns over the country's human rights record, fifa's evaluation report gave the sole saudi bid it's highest mark, and tomorrow the kingdom will be given the keys to the world cup. the norwegian football federation will vote against it, they have been highly critical of the whole

process as well as the choice of host. our sports news correspondent laura scott sent us this from oslo. the congress itself has caused some controversy among the federations, because instead of a traditional vote by the congress or, indeed, a congress held in person this one will be all held virtually and fiva have said that the federations will instead endorse the bids by a process of acclamation. now, that has got a lot of criticism from the norwegian football federation and is president said she will be abstaining from that process of acclamation because she says that it acclamation because she says thatitis acclamation because she says that it is a flawed process by fifa. she said that the bidding process undermines fiva's going 2016 reforms for good governance and transparent wellcome allocations. so for her it isn't really about criticising the host countries for both those tournaments, but

the way that fifa has reached the way that fifa has reached the point where there are two unopposed bids. given the recent criticism around saudi arabia, specifically around its human rights record and that 11 of the 15 stadiums or its world cup will need to be built i asked her she felt that saudi arabia was a suitable host? well, i'mjust arabia was a suitable host? well, i'm just very careful of saying that we are now criticising the process and is very easy for us to be critical of different cultures than our own and we know that the bigger risk generally in a country, for example, lack of freedom of speech, the bigger the risk will be. but we don't know, we don't know if that will happen or if saudi arabia or portugal will deliver on the promises made. our criticism now is on the lack of clarity in what fever asks for the bidding nations, on the risk on the ground, realness, just context

analysis, which goes for all bids, notjust 2034. bids, not “ust 2034. norway may well be bids, notjust 2034. norway may well be alone _ bids, notjust 2034. norway may well be alone in _ bids, notjust 2034. norway may well be alone in its _ well be alone in its opposition, we know that the english fa were discussing their stance as recently as last weekend, but given the uk's prime minister keir starmer was in saudi arabia only last week to strengthen the uk's ties with the kingdom, any opposition from the football world could look out of kilter. so the congress might lackjeopardy but it does not risk significance. we know that saudi arabia has long craved hosting the world cup and they look set to do so. people are focusing on the power of sport today positive change. they say saudi arabia can host a world—class event. but for those here in oslo and mark say worrying backwards step in terms of trust in fever and its processes. laura scott there. you can get all the latest sports news at from the bbc sport app orfrom our website — that's bbc.com/sport. from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye.

hello there. for many of us, tuesday was dominated by lots of grey skies, lots of cloud across the uk. for the central belt of scotland, it was fog, which persisted in glasgow all day, and as a result, the temperature for most of the day didn't get above —1 celsius. so, freezing fog, and we start off wednesday with some of that fog once again. temperatures overnight as low as —8 celsius, so a cold start to wednesday. for england, wales, more cloud here, as temperatures are about three to six celsius, but throughout wednesday, we keep this area of high pressure. this is what we've seen throughout the day on monday and tuesday, really, so not a great deal of change to what you experience outside, the freezing fog likely to continue across some parts of central and southern scotland. sunshine elsewhere across scotland, except the northern isles, where there's

a bit of rain here. maybe a few brighter skies in northern ireland, the far north of england. elsewhere, though, it remains pretty cloudy on wednesday afternoon. for many of us, temperatures about six to eight celsius. colder than that across scotland, especially where you keep that fog. so in glasgow, for example, again, the temperature may not get above freezing. now, through wednesday night, the temperatures fall away again pretty quickly across scotland, with those clear skies, fog just turning more dense, again, in some central areas, more cloud elsewhere, and once again, that will keep temperatures above freezing, about 6 or 7 celsius, just the frost limited to the far north and the east of scotland. now, during thursday, there'll perhaps be a bit more cloud across scotland. the best of the brightness towards the north and the east, still some fog patches as well. quite cloudy for northern ireland, through most of england and wales. we may just see a few spots of rain affecting eastern areas of england through the day on thursday, but temperatures once again fairly typical for the time of year, but i suspect it won't feel all that nice — quite cold beneath that cloud. on into the end of the week, we'll see a weather front moving south and eastwards across the uk, before high

pressure then starts to build in for the weekend, and the air comes in from a different direction, actually, as we go through sunday, so you notice that the oranges come into our map, so the milder, south—westerly winds for the end of the weekend, and that means temperatures will rise quite significantly, actually, so you can see there on friday and saturday, still in single figures. by sunday, we'll be in double figures, and there'll be a bit of sunshine around as well over the course of the weekend. bye— bye.