CEFERIN SLAMS COACHES

UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin told Europe’s top managers they have ‘no excuses’ for moaning about video assistant referees (VAR) anymore after only five of them came to a special briefing on the subject this week. The Slovenian (left) was speaking at the UEFA Congress in Rome, where he was re-elected to lead the governing body for another four years. Ceferin was an unknown lawyer from Ljubljana when he was first given the job of completing Michel Platini’s term in 2016 but there is no disputing who is in charge now. Having told his audience, which included FIFA president Gianni Infantino, that he would continue to defend European football’s interests in a ‘respectful but uncompromising’ fashion, he then added: ‘With VAR we prepared a meeting with all the coaches from Champions League teams in Frankfurt and only five came,’ Ceferin said. Then, he listed the five who made it — Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus), Bruno Genesio (Lyon), Thomas Tuchel (Paris St Germain), Eusebio Di Francesco (Roma) and Sergio Conceicao (Porto) — before excusing Liverpool because they were playing West Ham. The other clubs sent assistant coaches or other members of staff.