Alex Kirkland

Yes, the second half didn't live up to the first.

It was never going to, but still what we saw, like I said, that opening 45 minutes was something pretty spectacular.

Yeah, well, as usual, Dan, in the stadium, the fans and those of us pitch side as well, no less than pretty much anybody else as these things are happening.

You're right, it was six minutes and 23 seconds, the delay.

I've been told it was the second longest VAR delay in Spanish football history.

There was one that was eight minutes.

Apparently, this was second in terms of longevity.

No one knew what was going on at the Atletico bench.

Simeone was losing his mind on the touchline.

They were continually coming over, talking to the assistant referee, the fourth official, asking what's going on.

Eventually, yes, that Lewandowski heel pretty much fractionally offside when the ball kind of bounced off him to Kupasi.

But yeah, it's one of those where all the fans here were scratching their heads, wondering what's going on and why on earth is it taking so long?

Yeah, well, that's the reality of the situation at this stage of the season.

They're still in all of these competitions, but there are questions.

Look, they're the favourites right now to win La Liga.

They're, sure, just a point ahead of Real Madrid, but look at Real Madrid.

They are far from the finished article either.

In the Champions League, it does feel like they've dropped off from where they were last season when they genuinely were one of the two or three best teams in Europe.

And the Copa del Rey now,

looks extremely difficult.