from the goal, i think even before, they have been over us, and today was not... it was not in terms of attitude. i tried to explain the benefits as well in football terms, tried to analyse that. but that doesn't change my... my thoughts for appreciations for the players. it's football. today, it wasn't meant to be, it was not our day, they were better. well, earlier i spoke to football journalist andy brassell and asked whether leverkusen would be kicking themselves at not adding european honours to their first bundesliga title, which they clinched a few weeks ago. a little, but we have to say it is still possible for them to win the domestic double. they're playing the big final, the german cup final against kaiser, who nearly avoided relegation to the third tier in german football. the hot favourites for that, i can't imagine anything other than a strong reaction. of course, they would have loved to complete this, but they have a whole league season unbeaten which has never been done before in germany. no one could have expected this. it's still incredible season because alonzo has raised the standards for such a level. there will be a degree of disappointment, but i'm sure there'll be perspective of what has been an incredible season. also for atalanta, and the hattrick hero for lookman. you can't go out there without a football or ripping it up in europe at the moment. a brilliant moment for him. he wasn't even certain to start the final because in common with leverkusen, the reason atalanta look fresh is because they have a great bench and they can shuffle and they've been able to recently. they looked really good in recent weeks. they come to this crescendo of form in recent weeks. the perfect performance, gasperini was challenged, was he disappointed to have never won a major trophy at 66 years old? he said his career was rubbish and he it's been pretty successful, but still he will feel that this is some sort of validation and vindication for a project that he's rolled out over a number of years. he's produced a number of great atalanta teams and made them part of italy's elite. the dust has barely settled at the end of another premier league season, and four managers — jurgen klopp, roberto de zerbi, david moyes and mauricio pochettino — have left their posts. arne slot has replaced klopp at liverpool with plenty of names linked to the jobs at brighton, west ham and chelsea. pochettino left chelsea by mutual consent on tuesday and ipswich town's kieran mckenna is among the favourites to take over. pochettino�*s departure took many by surprise, not least former chelsea midfielder cesc fabregas, who spent some time with pochettino before their last game against bournemouth. i didn't have the feeling that this was going to happen. just looking around and the feeling that you have around the place, ifelt that it was nice and easy. yeah, i was surprised about the decision, to be fair. i felt that there was no real connection between players getting there, the patterns were more clear, they were not changing so much like the beginning in terms of tactics. there was quite a good stability, i would say, in terms of style and game plan, etc. good results, good dynamics, the fans seemed to be getting on with the players, with maurizio. so, yeah, we'll have to now wait and see what happens next. a call up for liverpool's teenage forward ben doak is the big headline from the announcement of scotland's squad for euro 202a. he's uncapped and hasn't played since december, but the 18—year—old is named by steve clarke in his provisional 28 man selection. scotland play the opening game of the euros against hosts germany on the ilithjune — and clark says he's looking forward to putting doak through his paces. he has a lot of talent. he catches your eye. i think the pace will be something that we haven't got in abundance in the squad, so it's something a little bit different. he's a young man, he's got a lot to learn in the game. i've never had a chance to work closely with ben, so it made something i thought we should do, so we'll see how it does. some sad news to bring you now — the former british olympic swimming champion david wilkie has died at the age of 70. scotsman wilkie won olympic gold in the 200 metres breaststroke at the 1976 games in montreal, and he won in style, breaking the then world record time by more than three seconds. the scottish great also won two olympic silver medals and three world titles. his family said that he died peacefully this morning, surrounded by his family, following a battle with cancer. runaway giro d'italia overall leader tadej pagacar couldn't make it a hat trick of stage wins but still retained his huge race lead after stage 17. after a day of incessant climbing, the peloton showed no real urgency in pursuing germany's georg steinhauser who powered on to take the stage win. pogacar then accelerated away from the main group to finish second and put a huge seven minutes and 42 seconds between himself and the rest of the field in the overall standings. novak djokovic celebrated his 37th birthday with a win at the geneva open, beating germany's yannick hanfmann in straight sets. in a match affected by rain, djokovic had too much for the world number 85 who knocked out andy murray in the previous round. the 24—time grand slam winner overcame the german 6—3, 6—3 to become just the third player afterjimmy connors and roger federer to win 1,100 matches on the atp tour. djokovic then, into the last eight. my birthday probably wouldn't be the same if i didn't win the match, but... but again, it's nice to be here again for the first time in this tournament. to have my family here coming to support as well, i grew up with my aunt and uncle and my two cousins for most of my life, so we don't get a chance to see each other that much lately. so it's really nice. i'm getting some really quality time on the court, but also off the court. staying with tennis, british players andy murray and dan evans have been awarded a wildcard to play in the french open doubles next week. murray has already signalled his intention to retire at the end of the year. having the wildcard raises the prospect of the 37—year—old featuring in the doubles event, at the olympic games in paris — which will also be held at roland garros. murray and evans last played doubles together at the washington open last summer. emma raducanu pulled out of french open qualifying earlier this week, but is set to play at next month's nottingham open. the 2021 us open champion has chosen to focus her preparations on the grass—court season. the nottingham event takes place three weeks before the start of wimbledon. we've reached the business end of the indian premier league and rajasthan royals have beaten royal challengers bengaluru by four wickets to qualify for another play—off match which will decide who'll play kolkata knight riders in sunday's final. royal challengers started brightly, but no batter managed to build really big innings. virat kohli looked good before falling for 33. the royals were always in control of their run chase and west indies t20 captain rovman powell won the game with a straight six as they chased down their target of 173 with six balls to spare. royals will now play sunrisers hyderabad on friday for a place in the final. so disappointment for the royal challengers and their head coach. i think our guys have fought brilliantly over the last ten weeks to come back from our first half of the tournament, which was a great effort. i certainly would pay tribute to the captain and the team from the way they lead from the front, both as role models, as professional sports people, but also the way they played. a reminder of our top story, atalanta have ended bayer leverkusen�*s long unbeaten run to win the europa league in dublin. it was a sensational performance from the italian side, who won 3—0 thanks for a superb hat—trick from ademola lookman. the victory for atalanta, bringing them a first ever european trophy. 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 most of us, wednesday was a particularly miserable day. quite wet, in fact, in hertfordshire and warwickshire, we had a months worth of rain in a 24—hour period, ranging from 55 to almost 65 mm of rainfall. throughout the day, the rain gradually drifted its way steadily north and west. here, it is going to linger for quite some time, so we still have weather warnings out. in fact, the met office has an amber warning now, with the emphasis on the heavy and persistent rain across parts of north wales and northwest england. we could see, to higher ground, as much as 100 mm or more, and that could lead to some localised flooding. so that weather warning and will remain in force until lunchtime on thursday. the brighter colours denoting the intensity of the rainfall. some clearer skies further south, so it could be a misty and murky start, but a relatively mild start to thursday morning. on the whole, quite grey for most of us and some of the rain persistent, but it will gradually start to ease as we go through the day, and hopefully the cloud across east anglia and southeast england should break up to allow for some glimpses sunshine from time to time. winds light to moderate, but the strongest gusts perhaps to the far northwest, where the heaviest bursts are likely to be. we are going to see temperatures peaking at around 18 or 19 degrees, but where the cloud and rain lingers, certainly a disappointing feel. as we go to thursday evening into the early hours of friday morning, gradually, that low pressure will drift its way further north and east and start to pull away, but it stays rather cloudy, damp and murky. so, a pretty murky start to friday morning, and we will be chasing cloud around on friday. cloud thick enough further north for a spot or two of light drizzle at time to time. hopefully some brightness down to the south, but it will be dry here, and top temperatures once again likely into the high teens. into the start of the weekend, this little ridge of high pressure keeps things quite on sunday. it is a bank holiday weekend, i know, there is a weather front starting to push in from the west giving us a level of uncertainty. it is likely the beginning of the three—day weekend will be the best in terms of drier and sunny weather, and there is the potential for some sharp, possibly thundery showers to develop a little later on. live from washington, this is bbc news. uk voters will head to the polls on 4july you after prime minister rishi sunak sets a general election date. norway, ireland, and spain will formally recognise a palestinian state, saying they are in support of peace, not hamas. after being banned from running for parliament, former south african presidentjacob zuma african president jacob zuma tells african presidentjacob zuma tells the bbc the country needs to change its constitution. hello. i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. british prime minister rishi sunak has set a general election for ajuly. he made the announcement in the pouring rain outside 10 downing street, hailing his economic record. the prime minister is trailing in the polls to the opposing labour party, as his conservative party seeks its fifth consecutive term. the bbc�*s political editor chris mason has been following the days developments from westminster. the lectern in place, after a downpour of anticipation. cameras, reporters, brollies, the downpours coming from the skies, too. at teatime, this... earlier today, i spoke with his majesty the king to request the dissolution of parliament. the king has granted this request and we will have a general election on the 11th ofjuly. music blaring from campaigners in nearby whitehall, rain tumbling onto the prime minister's sodden suit. you must choose in this election who has that plan.