'Lack of respect' from top European bosses over VAR

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has criticised "a lack of respect" from top European bosses after 10 managers did not attend a meeting to discuss the use of video assistant referees (VAR).

Ceferin, 51, said the meeting had been held in Frankfurt on Monday with the 16 coaches of the sides left in the Champions League.

But only bosses from Juventus, Lyon, Paris St-Germain, Roma and Schalke arrived with the other clubs sending "assistants, other staff or even marketing people".

Ceferin excused Liverpool from attending as they were playing a Premier League match at West Ham on Monday, which ended 1-1 at London Stadium.

"For me it's not only a lack of respect for [Uefa's chief refereeing officer] Roberto Rosetti's team and the Uefa organisation, but the influence of coaches is huge and if they complain about being refereed they should at least come and see what the experts say about the use of VAR," said Ceferin, who has been re-elected as Uefa president for the next four years.

"Now they do not have any excuses, especially the ones that did not even come."

The other teams that are in the last 16 of the Champions League include Ajax, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Manchester United, Porto, Real Madrid and Tottenham.

VAR will be used throughout the rest of the Champions League campaign for the first time, with the first legs of the last-16 ties beginning on Tuesday, 12 February.