VAR check takes nearly four mins as Man City wait after Erling Haaland scores

Manchester City had to wait almost four minutes to find out if they had taken the lead against Real Madrid as VAR checked Erling Haaland’s goal.

City took the lead in the first leg of their Champions League knockout playoff clash when Haaland slammed home from close range to finish off a brilliant move by the hosts.

A clipped pass by Jack Grealish in the Real box was chested down by Josko Gvardiol into the path of the Norwegian, who fired home on the volley past Thibaut Courtois from six-yards out.

However, as customary, VAR checked the goal to see whether Haaland had strayed ahead of the ball as he received the pass. And after a near four minute wait, the goal was given, with only Haaland’s hand in an offside position - legal in the laws with players unable to score with their hand or arm.

As the players waited for the decision, Alan Shearer, who was on punditry duty for Amazon Prime, slammed the time it was taking to make the decision, calling the delay “not acceptable”.

Fans also made their frustration clear on social media, as one user wrote: “I don’t think I’ve seen a longer VAR check before. If it’s clearly not offside give it as a goal and move on!" A second sarcastically added: “UEFA cooking up drama.”

The decision seemingly took longer due to the semi-automatic technology used in European competitions having to rule offside from the ball rather than another player on the pitch.

European competitions use a different VAR system to the Premier League, where lines are drawn on using specially designed cameras to analyse the players positioning.

City weathered a number of early chances from the reigning European champions before taking the lead. A header from Manuel Akanji glanced the bar minutes after Haaland's opener in an enthralling first-half.

The second half continued in dramatic fashion as after Kylian Mbappe had levelled the scores and Haaland had put City back in front 10 minutes from time from the penalty spot, ex-City youngster Brahim Diaz struck late on to equalise again. England superstar Jude Bellingham then won the game in added time to see Los Blancos take a one goal advantage to the Santiago Bernabeu.