he defeated the sooner on saturday to finish the return ten points adrift of league and leaders rail madrid manager pep guardiola admits that gap will be hard to claw back but in the meantime his side are intent on reaching the quarter finals in europe's top club competition. we we achieve two. surprises these year and we arrive in the other final in the end of the main the cobra. in back behind of the leak it would be tough to recover the points made during the in this did round i'm going to try where our target is player base as best as possible arrive to the kind of finals and go to the best of well opponents leverkusen will be without midfielder michael ballack who picked up an injury during training the thirty five year old has sat on the bench by his side last three wonderfully good matches but was expected to feature against boss or however his side has done well at home in europe winning all their games at the buy arena during the group stage of the tournament but i'll swear

french real will be looking to bolster their defenses when they take on cypriots like apple well in their last sixteen clash on paper lay all the overwhelming favorites having reached the knockout stage for the ninth consecutive year apple will have gone this far in the competition for the first time however the odds domestic form currently has a lot to be desired they've picked up just one win out of their last five games and conceded goals in all of them. while on wednesday russian champions in each one has been featured in their first ever last sixteen match coaching chinas for that he is relaxed despite missing some key players for the historic game goalkeeper just love modify it is a doubt already ruled out a striker dank allows of it and alexander will hot off the fender the medical record signing danny who has a serious knee injury however star forward alexander kershaw god does return from an ankle injury for his first competitive match in four months but he says another ten men could also produce goals with a mate to make up for those. first sideline. one notable form this season's

champions league is turkish side fenerbahce thousands of their fans gathered outside a courting turkey to voice their support for the club's president and almost one hundred other high profile figures went on trial president as these there is among those charged in a match fixing probe nine hundred games last season are alleged to have been rigged including fenerbahce is titled clinching for three victory over save us for the istanbul club was replaced by the club's anspaugh in the champions league in the wake of the scandal. while over in england where the paul auster is set to return for manchester city this tuesday the twenty eight year old was to report to training for a series of fitness tests managerial about the one cheney says he would welcome the return of travers he was not played since he allegedly refused to warm up in city's tuna lhasa by munich in september and has been in his native argentina since november the seventh the striker has paid an estimated three hundred fifteen thousand dollars a week has lost an estimated sixteen million dollars in wages fines and lost

bonuses have as was linked with moves to ac milan into milan and paris during the january transfer window but none of which came off meanwhile english premier league leaders city has lost two of their last four anything cup games. i've decided to return because i didn't say anything to the club and i want to return to see if i can sort out the situation and see if i can play score goals and where the mentors to see the jersey i know is going to be heard but it will be a good challenge for me the people at syria are against me because of what happened but they were badly informed. well meanwhile over in scotland defending champions glasgow rangers have gone into administration meaning the club will be docked an immediate ten points in the scottish premier league this follows an unsuccessful legal bid by the inland revenue the court of session in edinburgh to appoint its own administrator london based duff and phelps will now take over the data. day

running the rangers are addressing the crowds substantial debt problems. however they're all that sometimes goes on be and fans who gave their national team a hero's welcome on their return from winning the africa cup of nations thousands gathered at usaca airport to greet the copa blitz who beat stars to the tournament favorites the ivory coast eight seven on penalties on sunday night to play in the trophy for the first time in more than thirty years thousands more lined the streets as the team were driven on the back of army trucks to show grounds where speeches and celebrations were planned. while there was little hope that a break in brazil after a player was arrested and later released despite bashing his opponent with a camera stand during an on pitch brawl has been happened as a match in a local championship in one of the country's states and for that example i caught the oka attacking defender out to van as the latter was doing his laces the victim was carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital that scans reveal there is no serious injury and he refused to press charges. that are boxing and the head of the heavyweight title

fight britain derek just sora has promised to knock out champion vitaly klitschko but if i just faced off in front of the camera at a joint news conference in munich on monday many calling the fight hard to predict is just or is thirteen years younger than forty year old klitschko but ukrainian has a much greater reach and more experience although just or doesn't see that as a problems and has even chosen the round in which will floor his opponent. looking forward what is by and i train hard and the way we're going to be fighting to be a hundred miles an hour on the first round to round a promise you found that he's going down. action now from the n.b.a. where the new orleans hornets have broken in a game losing streak after beating the utah jazz eighty six points to eighty when the hornets led by as many as twenty points in the third quarter but despite a comeback by utah new orleans managed to hold on iraq up their third victory in

twenty six points antichrist famous for twenty seven points about thirteen rebounds after starting the seventh game of the season. now with a couple of major test events completed over the weekend of the olympic city of sochi preparations for the twenty fourteen winter games seem to be well on track as chairman of the co-ordination commission called killing he says there are no burning issues at the back so you resort i do dishes on a peak with two years to go before the olympics we are confident the games will go smoothly but to make it happen we need to create all the necessary conditions i'm not saying there are any issues but preparing for the olympics is always difficult no matter where they take place transport accommodation security and infrastructure need to be looked at. and finally some of russia's best figure skaters have been showing off their talent a star studded exhibition event in switzerland and. once

again the swiss mountains attracted some devoted figure skating fans vaillant's arena and gathered the best pairs and single skaters from around the globe two time world champion mickey underwood japan was one of them demonstrating an emotional style and breathtaking elegance however it was russia which was represented most widely apart from the country's young talents elisabetta took to misha and arts are . the lucky spectators of the show could have seen europe's best couple says well. me and nicky think it's a lot of one brooms at last month's european championship. losing to their gold when any competitor is to. and maksim turn call this time both pairs didn't have to compete but their beautiful glide in and engage in korea graphy showed their desire to never stop unproven and an extraordinary light show in video projections on the ice made of the framework for this amazing performances.

the atmosphere is just amazing when you go out of the arena you see such a beautiful picture clear sky mountains people skiing around we always come here with great pleasure and really enjoy our time here. this show does help us a lot i think because here we can go for some things which are not allowed in the real competitions and it might be quite useful and it's also great to have so many people watching and. in the meantime this we sold eons had a chance to enjoy their countrymen splendor twenty eleven year opinion champion sorry meyer entertained the whole crowd alongside the two time world champion stefan. he retired in twenty ten but it looks like he hasn't lost his touch. up don't wriggle rience parts he. had us all this fall for the same thing i think.

sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

russia's foreign minister says the libyan scenario of foreign intervention risk being repeated in syria as a case is built against the assad regime to justify external military action. a fresh wave of downgrades sweeps across the struggling euro zone six nations get their debt ratings all this while greece faces further bailout hurdles from the e.u. despite its latest harsh austerity plan. russia's military predicts the west might decide on a strike against iran before summer is clouds gather over to run following israel's accusations the islamic state was behind monday's attacks on diplomatic personnel.

nine pm in moscow i mattress i could have you with us here on r t our top story this hour russia's foreign minister says there is significant risk the libyan scenario for intervention could be repeated in syria sergey lavrov lavrov warned that a case is being built against the damascus regime that could be used to justify external military action for more on this i'm joined from the hague by our t.s.a. jaeger piskun oh. so sergey lavrov made the comments during his trip to the netherlands can you tell us more about what he said. well our foreign ministers also all criticized the recent proposal needed by the west to put together the so-called group of friends of syria because according to this project such a group would even cooed members and representatives of the syrian opposition and

not of the of thought he said which is according to moscow not a productive approach in the situation i said your office said that the international community has all we need quite enough effort to prevent the syrian opposition from having peaceful dialogue in the soon enough thought east while russia stand still for peaceful communication for talks between both sides of this conflict. so you know i was also reminded that the syrian i thought these are really for this dialogue president assad as you can authorize the vice president of syria to talk with the opposition so it's kind of now the turn of the opposition to to make the next move and start talking with the authorities at the same time as foreign minister also said that it's really unclear who controls these

armed groups within the opposition which is also quite divided into the areas groups some of them are quite hostile and fact are militants so it's not really clear of who controls them another issue touched the ball on by the russian foreign minister is the recent proposal by the arab league to deploy u.n. peacekeepers into syria and the foreign minister said that this proposal has to be dealt with quite a lot of attention because it is a complicated matter and the most important thing about it is that deploying any peacekeeping contingent into any country has to be supplied. good by the kind of the receiving side he said meaning syria of course and in this case it means that it has to be confirmed and welcomed by the authorities and the opposition which brings us again to the matter of a desperate need of dialogue between both sides of this conflict and another matter

is that if such a peacekeeping contingent would have been deployed in syria one of the tasks for it would be protecting civilians and we do remember another mission to protect civilians which was a young leader and just wired spiraled totally out of control kind of went for beyond that just protecting civilians and basically. as the foreign minister said once again the many western countries just took one side of the conflict and that's what moscow doesn't want to see happening in syria and so you are also said that moscow thinks the most optimal decision right now at this moment concerning syria is not to start some new mission of peacekeepers to deport peacekeeping danger into the country but actually to resume the observing mission previously conducted by

the arab league but currently frozen especially in light of this so you know i thought he's giving the green light to have more observers in syria even in the most hostile fire so they can see where they're all in eyes of what's happening there so that's according to the foreign minister the more rightful thing to do at the moment concerning this conflict there all right. thanks very much for that update. syria's opposition says the restive city of homes has come under some of the heaviest shelling yet from government forces rebels claim around four hundred people have been killed in several days of an intensified assault syrian authorities blame violence on armed terrorists operating within the city with al-qaeda now adding to the increased turmoil in the country there are fears syria could soon plunge into sectarian chaos as our he's sorry for it explains. the predominantly christian town of milly lies in the syrian mountains it's even here

in this hauntingly beautiful place and the signs of the polarizing conflict that is tearing apart much of the country right now creeping in and a sense of foreboding hangs heavy locals tell us they don't travel out of this area much they no longer feel it's safe we speak to the nuns at the monastery here they tell us about the town's preservation of the ancient aramaic language and like their cherished tongue they hate the fine balance of religious groups in the country can be kept even in these difficult times we have been living here with all people regardless of their religion ethnicity in peace for a long time. back in the center and damascus is known as a melting pot of religions a south alloway sector a minority in the country but despite making up around just twelve percent of the total population heloise have occupied elite positions in the government and the military for decades and now there are fears that resentments among the majority

muslim sunni sex could or ups the country that until this crisis break out was religiously diverse as the tolerance now the can increasingly polarized genuine fears about just where those divisions that might lead here's a sectarian tensions being further exploited have been staked by the emergence of an al qaeda video calling for holy war overthrow the assad regime violence is just not going to end we see it happening in iraq neighboring iraq sectarian violence that is catastrophic and nobody is reporting on that the reporting on syria and they're not focusing on the potential problems that syria could lead into another iraq on the streets through an increasingly desperate population has called for help in whatever form it comes as long as it stops the violence there's little time for them to think about long term sick carrion rests. well many of them are worrying about daily survival anyone who.

anyone over. this anywhere in syria right now the state still largely remains a long political lines that is concerned that is this increasingly bloody conflict continues it could turn into a sectarian one as well. damascus syria. on the situation in syria i'm joined by sharmeen our one year middle east expert and senior associate at st anthony's college oxford so russia has warned of a repeat of the libyan style intervention in syria despite diplomatic efforts of moscow and beijing not to allow that via the un so how likely do you think it is that that may happen. you know i think i'm concerned about the discourse on syria i think we start the wrong starting point there's so much escalation of rhetoric. going on and i think you know the main thing to look at is that syria sits at

a geopolitical fault line in the middle east and is at the center of. the struggle for of but the balance of power in the region. it's it's one of the few countries that has experienced a revolt in the region where people were actually discouraging for discussions or dialogue and negotiations i think what we first need to look at is what is actually happening in syria you know video photographs being beamed outside satellite pictures etc. and i think you know to take a step back we have to look at you know aside from the escalation of violence in recent days. has it been a humanitarian crisis i think an international human humanitarian law there are two issues that we need to look at one is the principle of necessity did the government use force unnecessarily and i would certainly argue that in the first few days. the first few months of the uprisings it did and then there is the principle of

proportionality you know is the government using disproportionate force there are two thousand dead syrian soldiers in eleven months. we we know that there are over five thousand dead civilians though if you look closely at those lists it may actually be a mix of her regime civilians as well as the regime civilians you know are some of these people gunmen who have been shot and are wearing civilian clothing we have to examine the discourse on syria far more seriously before we start taking measures against it and open the road and create a space around syria so there can be negotiation dialogue and debate it concerns me for instance the arab league monitoring mission the report they did was completely ignored by the international media and. even those affixed to the un security council documents nobody. shown a spotlight on it and the mission report actually tells us you know different

things it it's a counter narrative almost to the various narrative swirling about syria and i think these things need to be considered before we start talking about further measures. and inciting. you know opposition groups and you know putting them in harm's way quite frankly moscow also says the syrian opposition is fragmented and it's difficult to say who controls these armed groups that the regime says is go are going around the country causing unrest so who do you think there is to talk to the syrian rebels whose leadership. well i don't think that's altogether clear and that's part of the problem you know we just don't know enough about syria and what's going on in their media certainly isn't asking questions and the dominant narrative that defines the discourse on syria today absolutely doesn't ask questions will not shine a light on what's going on inside so so i think you know i think organically some

will emerge there is there are various opposition groups within syria there are various committees and locally based groups where we're not engaging any of these people and we're just pushing narratives that serve various parties political purposes. all right we have to leave it there sharmeen our wanny middle east specialist thanks very much for your insight. thank you. dead or an easy u.s. suffered another blow from ratings agencies moody's downgraded the debt ratings of six states including vulnerable portugal italy and spain this is the bloc struggles to prevent greece from default by offering bailouts in return for more austerity you can reduce reports that greeks increasingly feel the measures may only make things worse. system under siege m.p.'s drowned out the pleas of tens of thousands of demonstrators amassed within

a short passing another round of unpopular cuts. the results proved incendiary. that uganda protests turned violent as protesters including fringe anarchists clashed with police again leaving their mark on athens. a day on this is the remnants of public anger the glass isn't the only thing that's been broken as the government's past increasingly unpopular austerity cuts will be left asking who can they trust serve their interests the measures are very very tough part of the poor people especially and this is the reason that we feel. today i think more measures have been taken and they're not going to work in the end if he'll be another bill. and oh i hope for the best but i don't see it coming. under pressure from brussels berlin and the international

monetary fund the greek government has cut more jobs and slashed funding for the nation's pensions a minimum wage policy appears to mainly expose those most vulnerable to crisis conditions is a mindset some feel is doomed to fail we already have destroyed the whole generation of young people and their dreams destroyed. the sabian infrastructure of the whole country we know that it is. a piece there that we have now signs that these illegal or old rules we cannot continue like that because the policy but the government is following actually increases they did yeah instead of finding a solution but the heart of activists claims is their search and that they've known us there. the for the best parts of five years now and the time taxes have risen incomes have full and but the country's deficit only seems to grow and in this

austerity cycle is something sought by an increasing number despite the turmoil the government warns will follow but what is above our political system is the break up the idea exactly the date even more. people buy these thirty four for. the reason they are going to come the only way out of this point is the default default is going to be good for us but there's going to be a better solution than these so slow death so now relative calm has returned to the streets of athens smashed buildings have been patched up signs of damage swept away but the simmering discontent hasn't been and was forced medicine appears to bring nothing but pain many are continuing their call for terms of treatment jake agrees athens. for more insight on the story i'm joined by economist aureole claimer from arise miss university in rotterdam so the e.u.

says the group says greece won't get the bailout until it implements the agreed measures but they take time and the default is looming as early as march why is there no rush in europe when greece is closer to ever closer rather to default than ever. i think that they're preparing for the falls i think doing it slowly but surely sort of preparing the public that the default is imminent and not to unavoidable we saw the european commissioner in a coach already saying as much in the dutch media and so we hear it from even those sources like i.m.f. so i think this situation they already have assessed is unsustainable the greek economy is suffering to march the measures only seem to make it worse the greek and also living up to do agreements they signed this is not a system situation we're going to go on for very long the socialist group in the

european parliament is going to send a quote alternative troika to athens to offer greece their anti-crisis plan but do you think greece has any real choice at this stage and do you think they can accept another plan when it's also halfway into the second ballot yeah that is very much in favor of an alternative plan and blenders more focusing on the investing in the future rather than breaking it down but there seems to be destroyed she because of the cold turkey approach to the degree from i think that we really have to think about existing and i think also we have to be to think but that's the great in the end have to determine that they have to get out of the euro because that's is still the best way not a perfect way but it's still the best way available for them to recover reasonably soon and this will drag on for years and won't keep them stuck in the markets for all the time notify us minister.