Monaco – UEFA are set to wait until next season before introducing Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in the Champions League, although they are still not ruling out having it in this season’s final, president Aleksander Ceferin said on Friday.

Ceferin has so far resisted calls to bring VAR into Europe’s elite club competition, despite the system largely proving successful at the World Cup in Russia.

It has also been introduced in Spain’s La Liga and Ligue 1 in France this season, with those leagues following on from the German Bundesliga and Serie A in Italy, although the English Premier League has also been more cautious.

“For me, VAR is not completely clear for now, but we also know that there is no way back anymore, technology will come sooner or later,” Ceferin told journalists in Monaco, where the Champions League group-stage draw was held on Thursday.

“The plan for now is to use it from the next season, with the first match which is the Super Cup,” he added.

Logistical challenge

That match is due to be played in Istanbul on Aug. 14, 2019, and the Champions League will then bring in VAR from the playoff round later the same month.

“When we are ready we will use it, but it is not so easy because we have to choose the provider, it is not easy to organise a competition across the continent with all the referees, so we have some issues,” said Ceferin.

There had been reports that VAR could come in from the latter stages of this season’s competition, but UEFA’s Slovenian president now says that it is unlikely to be seen even in the final in Madrid next June.

“I’m not ruling it out but for now it doesn’t look like it will happen.”

UEFA’s biggest concern is how they can effectively run the system in a competition that spans an entire continent – at the World Cup, FIFA used a centralised system based in Moscow, but doing the same thing with matches being played in different countries is far more complex.

“It’s really much more problematic than it looks. We really have a huge territory, we have different countries. We don’t know yet how to do it,” added Ceferin.

“The plan is to do it next season, but let’s see what happens, I don’t want to predict anything 100 percent.”

Nevertheless, it seems certain that UEFA will wait a further year before the Europa League follows suit, just as the continent’s secondary club competition waited before introducing goal-line technology (GLT).

Giorgio Marchetti, the organisation’s deputy general secretary, admitted that VAR was “obviously not impossible but very complex, and requires a lot of planning.”

“The Europa League would follow exactly like GLT, because of this complexity of the operations,” he said, confirming that the idea would be to wait another season.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn said Friday that “yes,” he was happy with the variety in offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian’s red zone playcalling despite the team going 1-for-5 in the red zone during Thursday night’s 18-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Falcons managed just nine points on those five red zone opportunities, with a 9-yard touchdown run by Tevin Coleman and a 21-yard field goal by Matt Bryant. Bryant missed the extra point on Coleman’s red zone score.

“I was pleased with the variety in terms of calling plays, especially down in the red zone,” Quinn said Friday after watching the tape. “There’s certain ones that you could do from the 5 [yard line] to the 10. When you get back, get a little bit further, you can throw over the top of somebody still. When you’re down closer, obviously you can’t throw over a defender anymore. Back line is good. Outside toward the pylon is good.

“So, we were pleased with ‘where.’ What we were not pleased with was the execution of it. That’s not to say it’s just players. That’s all of us: getting the right design, the right training. … Our execution will be better. I reminded the guys [Thursday] night is not going to define the year in the red zone. It just showed we’ve got plenty of work ahead of us to do.”

Matt Ryan admitted to having a poor outing and was 1-for-8 for 3 yards in the red zone, with an interception on a ball intended for Julio Jones. He missed running back Devonta Freeman on what should have been a touchdown pass during a third-and-goal play from the Eagles’ 1-yard line on the team’s first series. The Falcons got the matchup they wanted after Ryan motioned Freeman out of the backfield, but the throw was off the mark.

The Falcons did not target Calvin Ridley, the first-round draft pick from Alabama, in the red zone versus the Eagles. They ran the ball five times in the red zone for 16 yards and the Coleman score.

Milan – Cristiano Ronaldo was hopping mad at losing out to Croatia star Luka Modric for the UEFA Player of the Year, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri revealed on Friday.

Real Madrid and Croatia midfield star Modric beat his former teammate Ronaldo and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah to the prize which was awarded on Thursday in Monaco.

“Yesterday he (Ronaldo) was very angry and it’s only normal,” said Allegri.

“He scored 15 goals in the Champions League and won the trophy with his teammates.

“The attitude of Ronaldo shows how much he continues to strive and work to be still the best. This is an advantage for us.”

Allegri added that the choice of Modric was “a personal choice” of those who voted “and, as such, must be respected.”

Ronaldo, 33, had the consolation of being awarded the prize for best striker chosen by journalists and Champions League and Europa League coaches from last season.

Modric’s success, after he was named the best player at the World Cup, means that the 32-year-old should be among the favourites to win the Ballon d’Or, a prize dominated by Ronaldo and Lionel Messi over the last decade.

Ronaldo, a five-time winner of the world player of the year award, signed for Italian champions Juventus this summer from Real Madrid for 100 million euros ($116.5 million).

The Portuguese superstar’s agent Jorge Mendes slammed the decision as “simply ridiculous”.

“He scored 15 goals, carrying Real Madrid to the Champions League win once again,” Mendes told Portuguese daily Record.

“This is not the winner, he’s (Modric) the best player in the world in his position,” said Mendes.

Ronaldo had won the UEFA award three times in the previous four years.

PHILADELPHIA — It took 51 years, and an extra 45 minutes due to weather, but the Philadelphia Eagles finally have a Super Bowl championship banner hanging in their stadium.

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  The Eagles’ wide receiver depth will be tested early this season, as the team most recently moved Mack Hollins to injured reserve Thursday.

It was unveiled before the home opener against the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night, all lit up and about twice the size of the other 13 banners in the Lincoln Financial Field rafters. A rabid fan base was in full throat with the ceremony about to begin, but a severe weather advisory went into effect, delaying the start of the game from 8:20 p.m. to 9:05 p.m.

The Eagles asked that the open seating areas be cleared because of lightning and high wind gusts in the area, and they mostly were, with the exception of a handful of reveling souls who decided to take their shirts off and dance in the rain instead.

When the skies cleared, the bowl filled back up and a giant Lombardi Trophy replica was wheeled onto the field near a group of kids and members of the armed forces standing behind a platform, where Eagles legend and recent Hall of Fame inductee Brian Dawkins stood to fire the crowd up and welcome owner Jeffrey Lurie, who was holding the real trophy.

Dakwins led a rendition of “Fly, Eagles Fly.” Fireworks were set off as the banner reading “2017 World Champions” was revealed.

The Eagles captured their first Super Bowl title by defeating the New England Patriots 41-33 in the championship game in February.