Pretty hyperbolic article about Sergej. Frankly, I think he's an irritating player: cutesy on the ball, spends entire matches passing to the other team. He's not even the best midfielder in his own team, much less approaching that status across Europe!

Of course, after fifteen years of not missing a Lazio match, I don't even know if I can go on watching Calcio-- I didn't even bother with the second half of yesterday's Torino game, and never even cared to check the result until this morning. The reason? "VAR".

Not only do you have referees making as terrible decisions as ever, but now those decisions are accompanied by three ring circuses, with referees running for their lives as they are surrounded by players, with mobs tens of thousands strong in the stands calling for their heads, with the fans given time to be treated to minutes-on-end, NFL-style replay buffets... just get on with the game already!

Rather than reduce controversy, video replay has elevated that aspect of the game to the point where it totally eclipses the actual action on the pitch. It's ruining football just like it did gridiron, with the latter's diminishing TV ratings and empty stadia.