Welcome to the new reality. How long it’ll last is anybody’s guess.

Lampard’s Chelsea face Ajax at Stamford Bridge tonight, knowing a repeat of their victory in Amsterdam two weeks ago should put them within touching distance of the Champions League knockout stages.

Liverpool left it late to maintain their six-point advantage at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.

Liverpool finally laid one of the Champions League’s more bizarre statistical shortcomings to rest, but it was the performance of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain that will have most pleased manager Jurgen Klopp.

New AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli was dramatically denied the perfect birthday present as his side were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Lecce.

Plenty of goals!

Paris St Germain bounced back from a shock defeat to Rennes with a 4-0 victory over Toulouse but were left to count the cost on Sunday night as Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe both hobbled off injured.

“So what do you make of VAR?” the guy behind the counter in my local garage asked the customer in front of me in the queue.

Nigeria coach Thomas Dennerby refused to blame VAR for their Women's World Cup exit at the hands of Germany but believes no one has found the solution to the system's on-going teething problems.

Former Uefa president Michel Platini always opposed the introduction of technology in football because he felt that, once it gained a foothold, it would quickly expand and change the character of the sport altogether.

Meh. As European Cup triumphs go, I’ve seen better… OK, I’ll stop being an unbearable gobshite. For now.

Football, bloody hell.

Hey, remember in the old days when the catastrophists were warning that VAR would be the Y2K of football, not just ruining the game as a spectacle but worse — far, far worse — doing away with all those ‘talking points’ so beloved of pundits, whether in a studio or on a bar stool?

Where were we? Three weeks without a column, due to Klopp’s disregard for the cup and TV’s disregard for supporters, the landscape has barely changed.

Holders Chelsea are safely through to the fourth round of the FA Cup but Premier League Cardiff were victims of a giant-killing act by Gillingham.

Make sense of it all? Maybe there was no sense to be found in it at all.

Football – zut alors!

Paul Pogba has hit back at spectators who booed France and Denmark players before, during and after the first goalless draw of the World Cup on Tuesday.

Two cramped rooms in a Moscow suburb could make or break countries’ dreams of World Cup glory.

Jamie Carragher can console himself that there’s always someone worse off.

Raheem Sterling is an injury doubt for Manchester City for the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal on Sunday.

Manchester United overcame the video assistant referee's controversial intervention and reached the FA Cup quarter-finals thanks to Romelu Lukaku's brace at Huddersfield.

Our man inside the game says video assistants can never replace a referee’s instinct.

Var remains on course for a sprint double-header at Royal Ascot at York following his comeback run when out of the money in the Temple Stakes at Sandown last night.

RUSSIAN BLUE can make the most of a drop in trip to land the Listed Cork Stakes at Fairyhouse this evening.

Clive Brittain has confirmed that he plans to be at least double-handed in the UltimatePoker.com 2000 Guineas on April 30.

Australian jockey Kerrin McEvoy will keep the plum ride on multiple Group One winner Warrsan in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.