Neither Elleray nor VAR can dampen LaLiga's hot title race

If he had the courage to do so and felt confident in his judgement, Velasco Carballo - the man responsible for VAR’s integration into LaLiga - would do well to organise an instructive session in the Luis Aragonés meeting room. There he could go through the rules in detail, with plenty of time to spare, morning and afternoon if necessary, in what would be open to coaches, captains and journalists alike, and streamed beyond those walls, using the cases sent across prior to it of all those handball decisions that have tormented fans throughout Spain. Maybe once and for all we could understand. Let's see if Roncero could be convinced that Miranda's was not a penalty while Acuña's was. And so many others that came before.

VAR changes, so hold onto our rules

The worst thing is that if he did it now, he would then have to do it all again very soon, because David Elleray has already changed the criteria for the Euros and for next season… Until the next one. My friend Vispe in Australia shared something with me that I took note of: he has decided that for him the rules he knew as a child, the ones his father explained to him, are still valid. "I have a lot of passwords to memorise, some of which change every so often: the telephone, the Wi-Fi, the bank, the other bank, the computer, access to the company, home security... I don't feel like studying the regulations again every season." Good choice. Let them make their rules, let us keep ours. They were better.

Problems aside, LaLiga is on fire

After all, if we complained back then, we complain even more now. For example, with that table of algarithms that they have turned handball situations into, in order to adjust them to VAR, which is becoming more and more like an invention of the Devil. On a bright note, football is navigating its way through a number of challenges. On this repugnant weekend when we saw two handballs or no handballs and the interruption to the end of the match, we have been left with LaLiga being lit up. Four teams separated by just three points. With Sevilla winning and Atlético losing, the top places have been squeezed tighter and in two weeks we have Madrid-Sevilla and Barça-Atletico on the same weekend. Neither Elleray nor VAR can stop that.