Referees

Most players receive only a few red cards in the course of a career. Red cards can be a last ditch effort for a referee to control a game after it becomes unhinged. Typically, the events that lead up to a red card are unintentional - almost humorous. (We can all thank Fellaini for this comical exchange with Sergio Aguero during the Manchester Derby.)

The fifth round of the FA Cup kicked off with Arsenal visiting League One side Portsmouth on Monday. Because rules makers in England are about as smart as blade of grass, just three of the eight matches this round will feature a VAR. The lunacy of this decision was highlighted by a horrific Lucas Torreira injury that went unpunished.

A visible clock is one of the measures being considered by Major League Soccer to solve the problem of time-wasting by players, according to former World Cup final referee Howard Webb, who is now the MLS's head official.

Webb told Reuters he was "open-minded" about the concept and that MLS could perhaps serve as a test model to trial the idea, just as it was the world's first league to use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system at every match.

Video Assistant Referee has its critics in Major League Soccer, not least Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but for the most part it has avoided the widespread fan antipathy that has roiled the English Premier League, German Bundesliga and elsewhere.

MLS was the first league in the world to use VAR in every game, starting in 2017.

In just about every major sport in the world, video replay has been installed with little fuss. Sure, it takes a little longer than some would prefer, but with video replay it’s generally accepted the correct calls are made. 

Except soccer in England. 

On Sunday night, following the racist abuse he suffered during Porto's 2-1 victory over Vitoria, Porto forward Moussa Marega took to social media and responded to the Vitoria fans who forced him to walk off the pitch in protest in the 72nd minute.

Marega wrote: “I would just like to tell these idiots who come to the stadium to make racist chants …. go fuck yourself. And I also thank the referees for not defending me and for giving me a yellow card because I defend my skin colour. I hope I never meet you on a football field again! YOU ARE A SHAME!!!!”

The VAR era has produced some stunning moments, but here are two of the strangest minutes we’ve seen yet. The scene is Estadio Fernando Torres in Madrid — yes, the stadium’s named after the former Liverpool striker — where Fuenlabrada is hosting Girona in Spanish Segunda División play. 

Everything seemed to go Barcelona’s way. It had more possession, more shots and more help from officials. But Valencia still found a way to win 2-0, handing Quique Setién his first loss as Barça coach on Saturday.