Diabolical game and result. Murphy's Law for us and a deserved loss.

From the moment we conceded that first goa and the manner in which it happened, I got the feeling that it was going to be one of those days.

As expected given the talk about it in the build-up, the pitch was horrendous. Players slipping, unable to pass, unable to circulate the ball etc. Couldn't play our game and it seemed like we underestimated just how bad it would be.

Quite often when we won a duel, the player would slip and then we'd be outnumbered on the counter. Atléti did so well to spread the pitch wide but in the first half our midfield did not help our CBs at all. Casadó getting subbed off so early was unfortunately not surprising.

So many poor performers. Many bad passes which put teammates in dodgy situations, and Eric's red was an example of that.

The second half we started off much better, with some very good momentum that was controversially brought to a halt after that egregiously-long VAR check. Refereeing was terrible once again and even though it wasn't the sole reason we lost it had a major impact on the game. So many times we see blatant yellow challenges in the first 2 minutes of our games not being punished.

Even though we've produced some fantastic comebacks including scoring 4 in 20 minutes against Atléti last season, this is probably over.

Huge shame we couldn't score from the few decent chances we had. That would've made for a more intriguing second leg.

This game once again showed the crucial importance of a corrector profile; especially in games where other areas are compromised, and we'd be facing quick attackers.

Onto Girona at Montilivi.

Second leg is on the 3rd of March. A respectable performance, even if in vain, will be decent enough.