Big Cup knockout football is back, and not a moment too soon for Uefa

Considering that it was their unsuccessful efforts to blame Liverpool fans for the chaotic, traumatic and potentially catastrophic events that preceded last season’s Big Cup final outside the Stade de France that led to them ordering a review of events in the first place, even the buck-passers in Uefa’s hierarchy of blazers can’t have been surprised when their investigators pointed the Big Finger of Blame largely in their direction yesterday.

While French police, government ministers and some local ne’er-do-wells also came in for a good shoeing, a six-month investigation concluded that Uefa bears “primary responsibility” for the omnishambles and said Liverpool fans had done absolutely nothing wrong. But considering everyone who was either there or following events on Social Media Disgrace Twitter on the night in question already knew all this, the only real surprise is that Uefa’s inquiry into their own shortcomings took so damned long.

Despite calls for his head echoing around Merseyside and other parts of the continent, the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has shown no indication that he is about to fall on his sword any time soon. The Slovenian will no doubt be pleased by the return of this season’s Big Cup for its knockout stages, if only to provide some distraction from his own and his organisation’s current woes. Of the four English clubs in the competition, Tottenham are first off the rank and will pull up at the San Siro later this evening for the first leg of their match against Milan.

On the face of it, things don’t look too positive for Antonio Conte’s side, given their patchy form, Saturday’s hiding at Leicester and their increasing knack issues. Hugo Lloris remains sidelined, while the outstanding Rodrigo