Premier League refereeing chief Howard Webb has acknowledged a significant failure by video assistant referee officials during Sunday's Manchester derby, revealing that the VAR team never even examined whether Enzo Fernandez was in an offside position when Erling Haaland scored the decisive goal at Old Trafford.
Haaland's strike in the 60th minute was initially ruled out for offside on the pitch, only for a VAR check to overturn the decision after semi-automated technology showed the Norwegian striker was marginally onside — by just three centimetres — following Josko Gvardiol's cross. However, the review process failed to properly account for Fernandez, who had dived toward the ball in a central area and appeared to interfere with Manchester United defenders, including Lisandro Martinez, who shifted his attention away from Haaland to deal with the Argentine midfielder's run.
Speaking on the debut episode of "Match Officials Mic'd Up" this season, Webb did not shy away from criticizing the officiating team, which included VAR Matt Donohue and assistant Blake Antrobus. "I was really disappointed with this outcome. We all are," Webb said. "None more so than the officials themselves. They take a lot of personal pride in what they do and they're obviously hurting now, having fallen short in this situation." Webb confirmed that Donohue and Antrobus will not take charge of any matches until after the upcoming international break.
Audio from the review revealed that the officiating team became fixated solely on confirming Haaland's onside position, without properly assessing Fernandez's potential impact on the play. Webb explained the officials checked only whether Fernandez had touched the ball, which would have triggered a new offside phase, but neglected to evaluate his broader interference despite not making contact.
"The VAR gets super-focused on Haaland," Webb said. "He establishes he's onside, he thinks that's a good goal. He doesn't truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez's position... In that moment, he gets tunnel vision. It's down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel, and unfortunately, that didn't happen on this occasion."
Webb was unequivocal that the goal should not have stood. "This goal should've been disallowed. And highly unfortunately, it wasn't, and we'll review it, reflect upon it, and try to take the learning forward to prevent this unusual type of error from happening again," he said.
Former England striker and BBC Sport pundit Wayne Rooney was similarly critical of the oversight on Match of the Day, stating that anyone with football experience should have recognized Fernandez's offside positioning, calling the mistake "baffling."
The controversial goal overshadowed another contentious moment from the match — Phil Foden's 23rd-minute red card for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes. Webb defended the decision to send off the Manchester City midfielder, describing the action as forceful contact to Fernandes' upper body. However, he noted that a similar kick from Fernandes toward Foden earlier in the passage of play did not warrant a red card. "It is more petulant than violent," Webb explained, adding that to constitute violent conduct, an act must involve "excessive force or brutality," which Fernandes' challenge lacked. Webb suggested that had Foden not been dismissed on the field, a VAR review — similar to the one that led to Aston Villa's Joao Gomes being sent off against Brighton last month — would likely have flagged Fernandes' action as a yellow-card offense.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.