was, ok, we presented forformats. everyone of them have advantages —— four. in terms of the financial sit tuition. we were in a confident position to make a decision based on the sporting merit. —— situation. in ten yea rs the sporting merit. —— situation. in ten years from now, revenues and costs, we don't know but we hope that and it's what our marketing experts are saying as well, with the new format, there is more excitement, more decision—making, knockout games that are being played, the cup system, it adds an added excitement to the tournament. part of the new expansion plan could mean introducing penalty shootouts after group games that end in draws, to avoid teams playing for a draw when it would mean both qualifying. bayern munich manager carlo ancelotti is one person who has voiced concerns about that idea but the italian says all in all he favours a bigger world cup. in general, i am against more matches because their schedule is too busy but fifa are saying they not going to change the number of matches in the world cup so we will wait and see. i think the penalty shot is not the best way to arrive to the result but sometimes in football you have to use this. i am against the penalty shot because if it is possible to avoid, i understand it is not possible to avoid. manchester united have a 2—0 lead over hull going into the second leg of their efl cup semi—final, afterjuan mata and marouane fellaini put them ahead at old trafford on tuesday. all eyes were on united captain wayne rooney, who is chasing a record 250th goal for the club, but it was mata who broke the deadlock in the 56th minute before substitute fellaini added a late second. the result marks a ninth win in a row forjose mourinho‘s side. meanwhile morgan schneiderlin looks to be on his way out of old trafford, after mourinho confirmed that united had accepted a 27 million dollar bid by everton. the french midfielder, who joined the club from southampton in 2015, has made just eight appearances for united since mourinho took over from louis van gaal as manager last july. over in italy, napoli became the first team to book their place in the quarter—finals of the coppa italia, after beating spezia 3—1. and in spain, two late goals couldn't save las palmas in the copa del rey. they came from behind to beat atletico madrid 3—2 in the dying minutes of the match, but lost 4—3 on aggregate, as atletico secured their place in the quarter—finals. a statue of lionel messi has been vandalised in buenos aires. the head, torso and arms of the barcelona and argentina forward have all been removed, leaving only the legs and a football on display. the statue was installed in late june, shortly after argentina and messi lost the final of the copa america against chile. messi's monument is among several others in the area, all dedicated to argentine sports stars. iaaf president sebastian coe is to be re—called to a british parliamentry committee's inquiry into doping in sport. this comes after former athlete david bedford told them that he sent an e—mail to coe back in 2014 detailing corruption in the russian anti—doping process. the iaaf say that everything has been answered and lord coe has no further comment to make. 0ur athletics reporter ade adedoyin explains what bedford claims was in the e—mail. it was sent in august 2014 and bedford said it detailed allegations of corruption made by the former marathon on the run from russia against a number of high—ranking officials at the iaaf. she said she had been blackmailed and coalesced to cover up failed drug tests. he said it was someone he could trust and someone he would sweep an issue under the carpet. he said he spoke to him on the phone and sent in any tale —— e—mail. he said he acknowledged he received the e—mail but said he didn't open it because he felt it was the matter for the ethics committee to deal with. when bedford was asked about that, he said he was surprised and disappointed. he didn't believe he didn't open it. and he said it didn't open it. and he said it didn't matter what he believes but he needs to take responsibility. he said he spoke to lord coe in december. lord coe said he had no knowledge of it. the committee feel that lord coe knows more than he was telling them. the principal of team sky has criticised the head of uk anti—doping for undermining the current investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in cycling. sir dave brailsford, and others, gave evidence to a british parliamentary committee last month and were accused by david kenworthy of providing ‘very disappointing' answers. from the team's training camp in mallorca, here's our sports correspondent andy swiss. while his cyclist train in majorca, sir dave brailsford is getting used to a rather bumpier ride. the mastermind behind team sky's success is at the eye of a sporting controversy, an investigation into a mystery medical package delivered to sir bradley wiggins in 2011. brailsford's recent evidence to a select committee was criticised at the weekend as "extraordinary" by the chair of the very anti—doping body who are investigating him. today, brailsford hit back in this increasingly acrimonious affair. i think the only extraordinary thing i could see is the fact that he actually commented on the whole process himself. to discuss the actual contents of that investigation, while it's live and open, that's the extraordinary thing, in my mind. well, team sky have come out here to majorca to try to focus on the season ahead, but they know their reputation, especially that of their boss, is now under scrutiny. it's regrettable i think but, equally, over the test of time is the key thing and i think over time we'll continue to perform at the highest level. but tensions are starting to appear. last week, tour de france champion, chris froome, conspicuously failed to offer brailsford his backing. do you still feel you have his support? i'm confident that we're going to go to the tour de france this year and give it absolutely the best shot. that's not the question i asked, do you feel you have his support? like i say, i'm proud of what i'm doing and i'm confident that we're going to go forward and do all the right things to make sure we win the right races this year, and that's what we're going to do. have you considered resigning at any point? no. i'm proud of what i've done, i've been doing this a long time. you know, i've been doing it for 20 years and i'm very much focused on the season coming ahead. brailsford insists there's been no wrong—doing, but admits the current process is uncomfortable. restoring his team's reputation could be another uphill struggle. andy swiss, bbc news, majorca. tennis world number one angelique keber‘s build up to the australian open has suffered a setback. the german was beaten in straight sets at the sydney international by russian teenager daria kasatkina. kerber, who is looking to defend her title in melbourne next week, was constantly on the back foot against the promising 19—year—old. after the match, kerber said the flight of the balls was a little different to what she's used to. kasatkina is beginning to make strides at the highest level, having come close to beating garbine mugurzua last week in brisbane. french driver sebastien loeb won stage eight of the dakar rally on tuesday to retake the overall lead from compatriot and peugeot team—mate stephane peterha nsel. loeb began the day less than a minute behind peterhansel but finished three and half minutes faster on a shortened 417 kilometre split route in argentina. the result leaves loeb1min 38 seconds ahead of the 2016 champion. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello. before our weather turns increasingly wintry, it turns wild and windy. a particularly lively day across the northern half of the uk today. some travel disruption is possible as wee see wind gusts in excess of 60mph. strongest winds through northern scotland as this weather feature pushes east, introducing cold winds across the country and keeping the wind lively and gusty for the morning rush—hour. gusts in excess of 60mph across parts of scotland. frequent showers turning frequently to sleet and snow notjust over the hills. rain showers for northern ireland accompanies the strong to gale force winds, gales if not severe gales for some parts of northern and western england, as well as western wales. not a great morning rush hour across the pennines. to go with showers, the winds particularly lively. further south and east, the wind isn't as strong, but picking up through the day, introducing some sunshine but dropping the temperature. feeling colder for all in the afternoon. showers most frequent in the north—west of england and ireland, and they turn increasingly to snow across scotland with afternoon temperatures at three or four degrees at best. we continue with those winds, strong, gusty and increasingly icy through the night and into thursday. the showers get increasingly wintry too. scotland, northern ireland and northern england have a covering of snow for some into the morning, certainly icy conditions around. further south, even here a cold start to thursday. here is the set up for thursday, with the north—westerly winds bringing increasingly cold and arctic air our way. notice the weather feature pushing south, this could complicate things, the forecast for the south for sure. uncertainty at the moment but it looks like for southern areas outbreaks of rain with the wind coming from the south—west, but the rain turning to snow for a time across the welsh mountains, the moors, the south—west and the other high ground, moving to the other parts of southern england as we go through the afternoon, giving a covering here and there, maybe some flakes to low levels, certainly one to watch. further north we go, though, it's a case of some avoiding the showers altogether, others frequent snow showers. a good covering over the high ground in scotland, 10—20 centimetres if not more for the highlands and grampians. covering of snow to lower levels at times. even if you miss the showers, some of you will completely, all of you will notice the wind, it is going to be a day where the wind chill makes it feel much more like subzero for almost all. and the icy winds continue through thursday night and into friday. strengthening in fact across southern areas. showers for a time dying back to the coast through friday itself but the rain, sleet and snow flurries across eastern parts of england are only part of the story. here we will see severe gales on friday, some rough seas and the risk of some minor coastal flooding. stay tuned to the forecast. i'm laura trevelyan, here in the city where barack 0bama, president of the united states for eight years, will shortly deliver his farewell speech. welcome to chicago. he's returned to the city where he launched his political career and he will make a parting plea to americans not to lose faith in theirfuture, no matter what they think about their next president. this is where he met his wife, michelle, who will be