Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has called for an “open conversation” on VAR after another weekend of controversy in the Premier League as he prepares his team to face Ajax in the Champions League.

Chelsea, who are fourth in the Premier League, endured a nervy end to their match against Watford on Saturday after their 2-0 lead was halved by a VAR-awarded penalty converted by Gerard Deulofeu.

VAR also confirmed an offside decision against Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino during their 2-1 win at Aston Villa. The forward was flagged because his armpit “was marginally ahead of the last Villa defender”.

Lampard, speaking ahead of his side’s game against the Dutch champions at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, said tweaks needed to be made over the use of the technology.

“I think the use of the screen on the side of the pitch can be a help because we’ve seen this weekend in the Premier League decisions that firstly they’ve taken a long time to get to, which seems to bring in the fact that there’s an element of doubt,” he said.

The lack of use of pitchside monitors by referees has been criticised after numerous controversial decisions in the first few months of the season.

“It just feels at the minute in the Premier League, obviously there are things that aren’t right with it. I think that’s pretty much universally agreed at this point,” said Lampard.

“I don’t think it’s for the want of trying or anyone having the wrong aims. We all want a better game and better decisions and the right decisions but at the moment we’re not quite getting that.”

The Chelsea boss called for input from all sides on VAR.

“I would work with it at the moment and see how we can improve,” he said. “And I think it needs to be a really open conversation — referees, managers, fans.”

Lampard said the system had been positive when it came to “clinical decisions” such as off-side calls but other calls were leading to controversy.

“It’s the subjective in-between ones that we really need to decide where we’re coming from with this idea of ‘clear and obvious’ because at the weekend there were lots of not clear and obvious and some were overturned and some were not,” he said.

Chelsea are second in Group H of the Champions League, level on six points with Ajax after three games.

Neymar escapes with warning over Cup final fan slap Neymar will escape prosecution for an altercation with an opposition supporter after Paris Saint-Germain’s surprise defeat in the French Cup final in April, sources told AFP on Monday.

Prosecutors have decided the Brazilian star will receive a written warning and no further action will be taken.

A 29-year-old Rennes fan who had been filming Neymar as he climbed the stairs to collect his loser’s medal at the Stade de France appeared to cajole the disconsolate player after the French league champions were defeated in a penalty shootout.

Neymar stopped, used his hand to lower the phone and then tapped the fan on the chin.

“I shouldn’t have done it but sometimes it’s hard to remain calm,” Neymar said on Instagram at the time.

A lawyer for the fan who filed a complaint against Neymar for violent behaviour said the warning was unacceptable.

“It’s a justification of violence,” said lawyer Philippe Ohayon. “If that had been a fan hitting a player he would have been brought to justice and maybe even received a custodial sentence.”

Neymar was given a three-match ban for the gesture at the time of the incident.

Coutinho Gets Baptized In his Bathtub

On-loan winger Phillipe Coutinho followed the example of fellow Brazilian teammate Willian as he recently got baptised, but not in the usual fashion. While many Christians opt to conduct the religious rite in divine settings, the former Liverpool man had his baptism take place in his bathtub.

Coutinho, took to social media to thank Brunet and his wife as he expressed excitement at his admission to the church. “Thank you very much Pastor Brunet and Jeanine Brunet.. It was two more than special days that were marked in our lives. Let’s live a new era,”

Willian visited the popular River Jordan in Israel in June 2019 and he made the most of the occasion by immersing himself in the river for divine purposes. The Chelsea attacker endorsed Coutinho’s baptism by commenting using two praying hands emoji on his post.

Reports in Brazil even suggest a housekeeper of the former Liverpool star’s joined in in the event.

Pastor Brunet wrote online: “These days here in Germany were amazing. Welcome to our new brothers and friends!”

On Thursday, the church posted the baptism event on their Instagram handle with the caption: “We preach, baptise, and continue discipleship. God is doing great things in Germany these days with Tiago Brunet. Pray for our ministry.

“An entire family surrendered to Jesus today!”

Chelsea To Spend £150m On New Players

Chelsea are making plans to sign three big players by January if the transfer embargo is lifted. According to reports by The Sun, Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace, Leicester left-back Ben Chilwell and RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner are in the list of recruits Frank Lampard plans to recruit.

The Blues were banned from transfers for two windows for breaching rules regarding the registration of young players. They were only allowed to sign Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid as he was already on loan to Chelsea.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport have announced that Chelsea’s appeal against their two-window Fifa transfer ban will be heard on November 20. With one window already served, it means Chelsea could be allowed to sign players in time for the January transfer window if CAS cut their punishment.

Lampard has over £150million at his disposal to sign players when the transfer window reopens, being the cash they were able to accumulate for the past 6-12 months.

Speaking at a press conference on Mondy, the manager said: ‘At Chelsea, we will always look to improve in windows if we’re allowed to, and if the players we might look at are better or we feel are adding to the squad.

‘Of course, I’m interested because it’s obviously going to affect potentially what we can do in January or not.’

Zaha has been pushing for a move out of Crystal palace and would welcome the idea of playing for Chelsea. His proposed move to Arsenal and Everton in the past were not successful. His club (Crystal palace) are demanding for over £70m while Chilwell is worth £50m.

Werner currently signed a new long term contract with Leipzig during the summer but his club would want to let him go at £25m.

Chelsea currently sit fourth on the Premier League winning seven of their last Premier League matches.

Frank Lampard rules two Chelsea players out of Man United clash with injury issues

Chelsea will be without a number of first team players when they host upturn Manchester United on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup.

The Blues have been hit with several injury setbacks this season but still managed to get impressive results both on home soil and away.

To assume Frank Lampard hasn’t been hit with injury concerns this season is an incomplete statement.

Antonio Rudiger, N’Golo Kante, Andreas Christensen and Ross Barkley have all been out of action through injuries, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek is still on the sidelines with knee injury.

During Lampard’s pre-Man United press conference, he hinted that both Kante and Rudiger will not be in action on Wednesday night.

“You want me to name the team? I have to be aware that we haven’t changed that much. That’s my prerogative and the team is going pretty well.

“This game may be an opportunity for the players not playing – not to do with age, more to do with minutes in games – might mean some of the more experienced ones playing.

(Kante fit?) “No.

(Rudiger?) “No.”

‘He is very fast and big’ – Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi talks about Virgil van Dijk

• Football

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has revealed why it is hard to play against Virgil van Dijk after losing to Liverpool last summer in the Champions League.

Barca were drawn against the Reds in the semi-final after knocking out Manchester United in the quarter-final.

The Catalans defeated Liverpool 3-0 at Nou Camp in the first leg of the semi-final – a game where Messi scored twice.

At Anfield, the Argentine forward was silenced by Virgil van Dijk and his defence line and watched how the Merseyside club turned the scoreline around.

Liverpool defeated the La Liga giants 4-0 in the return leg to reach the Champions League final, where they went ahead to beat Tottenham 2-0 in the final.

And Messi admits the Dutch defender has many attributes which make him one of the best defenders in the world.

‘He is a defender that knows how to judge the timing and wait for the right moment to get in or hold on,’ Messi told Marca.

‘He is very fast and big, but he has a lot of agility for his height.

‘He is fast because of its great stride and is impressive, both in defense and attack because he scores many goals.’

Van Dijk and Liverpool will travel to Old Trafford on Sunday to take on struggling Manchester United in the Premier League.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals Man United strong team to face Chelsea – Carabao Cup

• Manchester United News

Manchester United will look to maintain their momentum when they take a trip to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea in the Carabao Cup fourth-round clash.

United have won two away matches in a row after their much-improved performance against league leaders Liverpool two weekends ago.

The Red Devils left Belgrade Partizan on Thursday night with a 1-0 win in the Europa League and they even improved on their scoring after beating Norwich City 3-1 on Sunday.

And they will look to upset Chelsea on Wednesday when both teams lock horns in London.

The Blues have been in top form this season and have won their last seven games in all competitions, including their 4-2 win at Burnley over the weekend.

However, United will be without David de Gea due to tactical reason while Paul Pogba and other United stars will miss the clash due to injuries.

United youngsters Williams and Garner could make their first domestic starts against Chelsea after playing in the last two Europa League matches.

“We have not made a decision on who is going to play, but you will probably see the two of them,” Solskjaer added.

“Character will be revealed in tough times, but I think they have done excellent, the young kids… I couldn’t be any more happy with many of the youngsters.”

Below are the available Manchester United players to take on in-form Chelsea tomorrow night.

Keepers; Sergio Romero, Lee Grant

Defenders:  Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Ashley Young, Marcos Rojo, Brandon Williams

Midfielders:  Fred, Andreas Pereira, James Garner, Juan Mata, Scott McTominay, Jesse Lingard

Forwards:  Daniel James, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford

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Solskjaer blasts Man Utd forwards ahead of Norwich clash

Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has demanded more from his attacking players, after the win over Partizan Belgrade.

United got back to winning ways with a 1-0 victory in the Europa League clash, thanks to Anthony Martial’s penalty.

Martial played one hour on his return to the starting line-up, before being replaced by Marcus Rashford.

Rashford failed to add more goals, with United failing to score more than once since August.

Ahead of their trip to Norwich this Sunday, Solskjaer told MUTV: “Second half I thought we dug in really well in the box, defended really well in the box. They played well in the second half and made us defend too deep.

“I’m not happy with the defending at the front. I think that’s been one of our strengths this season but I thought that was non-existent in the second half.

“That needs sorting out because we don’t want to be a team who is just defending in the box.”

Conor McGregor teases Floyd Mayweather rematch and explains broken UFC promise

Conor McGregor was stopped by Floyd Mayweather in the 10th round of his boxing debut in 2017.

By Ryan Taylor PUBLISHED: 12:14, Thu, Oct 24, 2019 | UPDATED: 12:41, Thu, Oct 24, 2019

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Conor McGregor teases Floyd Mayweather rematch and explains broken UFC promise (Image: GETTY)

Conor McGregor has hinted that a rematch with Floyd Mayweather could still happen.

The Irishman has been around Europe this week promoting his new whiskey called Proper No. Twelve.

On Thursday he landed in Moscow where he held a press conference.

In a Q&A with journalists, he was asked for his opinion on a Russian domestic fight that was happening between a Mixed Martial Artist and heavy lifter.

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The Notorious claimed that a chance to do something out of the ordinary, like when he stepped into boxing, is something that will always appeal to him.

He said: “A weight lifter? Oh wow, very good.

“Excellent, that’s what the people want to see.

“Men who take risks. I went into another man’s sport, the supposed best ever of that discipline and faced him under his rule set.”

Conor McGregor teases Floyd Mayweather rematch and explains broken UFC promise (Image: GETTY)

McGregor then claimed he was left frustrated that Mayweather broke his promise, after agreeing to fight him in the octagon, which never happened.

He hinted that he is still hopeful that it might happen one day.

“It was supposed to be reciprocated but it was not,” he added.

“Maybe someday soon.

Ronaldo Meets Michael Jordan – We Made History

0 June 24, 2019 12:34 pm

Juventus forward, Cristiano Ronaldo met with Michael Jordan on Sunday as shared on his (Ronaldo) Instagram page. The Portuguese posted an Image of Michael and himself seated with Jordan’s hand wrapped round his shoulders which he titled- “We made history.”

Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner unarguably one of the greatest footballers and Michael Jordan is a six-time NBA champion and five-time MVP is arguably the greatest basketballer ever.

Ronaldo, 34 have been on a family vacation in the French Riviera just after clinching the UEFA Nations League title which made it his second International trophy. He is also set to take part in the Pre-season campaign under new boss, Maurizio Sarri.