So, this is normally the moment when we might take a rather cynical or flippant look at the weekend's football, perhaps deliberate on a refereeing mistake or make fun of a misfiring striker. Not this week though. Not when a young man of 23 continues to fight for his life in the intensive care unit of the London Chest Hospital.
As soon as Fabrice Muamba fell to the turf on Saturday evening when suffering a cardiac arrest - with the TV broadcasters choosing not to show their viewers the horrendous scenes that were occurring as a team of medics tried desperately to resuscitate him - and an awful, awful hush fell across White Hart Lane, football, and all the extraneous nonsense that so often comes with it, became largely irrelevant.
Premier League and FA Cup games were played out on Sunday - each commendably and rightly marked by shows of support for the Bolton midfielder, who has attracted warm tributes in the past two days - yet the results, the details of who scored and when, were rendered insignificant by what was and is still occurring in the room of a hospital in Bethnal Green.
Fabrice Muamba's battle to stay alive is far bigger than football, far bigger than any sport.
It is often said in the wake of such desperate events that they "put football into perspective". But really, such a phrase does not do justice to the mental realignment that has to occur when an apparently healthy young man becomes not a protagonist in a sporting event, but a casualty patient, in full view of tens of thousands of spectators and a million more watching at home.
To put something into perspective suggests the scope and size of both realities can be grasped. But unless you have experience of such an awful episode, it is hard to know how it must feel to be a player on the pitch and see a colleague or opponent collapse for no apparent reason, or to be a member of the Bolton staff and witness a friend undergo prolonged CPR and defibrillation when he should just be playing a game of football.
When Muamba collapsed, with not a player near him, White Hart Lane was no longer hosting a sporting event. There were tens of thousands in attendance in the stands, there were players on the pitch, managers stationed by the touchline, but any pretence of sporting combat melted away immediately.
Judging by the trauma etched on the faces of those players reduced to tears, as they looked to the heavens, everybody knew instinctively the game could not and would not continue, even before Howard Webb made the formal decision.
When the full horror of what was occurring became quickly apparent, opposition fans at White Hart Lane no longer sought to tease each other, or antagonise, as is the default setting at football grounds up and down the country, but instead they united in fear, worry and concern.
Almost incomprehensibly, at a stroke we were no longer witnessing a football game but the battle to save a life. Support and compassion has spread overwhelmingly across football and the globe with every hour that has passed since.
On Saturday night, Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo - a man apparently as classy as the passes he has made his stock in trade - dedicated his side's victory at Fiorentina to "Bolton's player Fabrice Muamba, who is fighting for his life. We are all close to him and hopefully he will recover soon".
Numerous public figures and hundreds of thousands of fans of all persuasions voiced their support on Twitter, before Sunday brought with it more formal recognition in the form of moments of applause prior to the two Premier League matches and two FA Cup sixth-round ties that took place. A small gesture perhaps, but the right one.
Friends and family visited Muamba's hospital, of course, but also fans from across the spectrum. Bolton fans praying for the return of a hero, Tottenham fans who were touched and deeply affected by events at their home ground and Fulham fans and others from across the capital.
At Bolton's Reebok Stadium, people congregated to leave messages of support. Not just those from Bolton, but other clubs in the region as well.
On the pitch, Chelsea's Gary Cahill - a team-mate of Muamba's prior to January - scored against Leicester and lifted his shirt to reveal a t-shirt bearing the legend "Pray 4 Muamba". Daniel Sturridge - on loan at Bolton last season - also wore one in support of a friend.
Before Real Madrid kicked off against Malaga, their players - who cannot be praised enough - wore shirts expressing their best wishes for both Muamba and Barcelona defender Eric Abidal, who it was announced last week must undergo a liver transplant.
Arguably club football's most intense rivalry was rendered meaningless in such a serious context, while Madrid's decision to show support for Muamba demonstrated just how universal the emotional reaction to Saturday's events had become.
Of course, Spain is a country that has been touched by tragedy twice in recent years, no doubt making news of Muamba's battle all the more resonant. The names of Dani Jarque and Antonio Puerta inescapably induce feelings of desperate sadness and regret.
These indescribably tragic events make the football context in which they occur largely irrelevant. But it is to the utmost credit of the game that the reaction to them is often so genuine, so united and so compassionate.
In a season that has been tainted by certain episodes, the reaction to Muamba's condition has restored faith in the average supporter, even if the context in which that process has occurred is not one that any of us would wish for.
All of football is willing Muamba to make a full recovery, to do what Jarque and Puerta could not - win his battle and walk out of the London Chest Hospital and resume his life. Football is united in its compassion and unwavering support for Muamba and his young family.
The sport of football might not matter at moments like this - the scoreline, the league table - but those who play the game and dedicate a triumph to a man they may never have met, those who watch from the stands and chant an opponent's name as they desperately urge him to stay alive, and those who watch from a sofa as a director chooses to cut away from the horror occurring on the pitch and feel compelled to visit a hospital to offer their own support... they certainly do. They matter at times like this.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We are immensely proud and grateful to the medical teams at both clubs, their response was immediate and professional. Our thanks also to both sets of fans for their support and behaviour. Too often we read the negatives about football and yet last night, at a time of intense emergency and uncertainty, we saw the true humanity and empathy of the footballing family." - Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.
COMING UP: We speak to Paul Parker at lunchtime while Pitchside Europe updates us on events from across Europe this evening. There is also some live football for you to enjoy on Monday night as Roma host Genoa in Serie A at 7.45pm.