Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer for Premier League body Pro Ref, has publicly admitted that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system failed to assess whether Enzo Fernandez was offside during Erling Haaland’s decisive goal in Sunday’s Manchester derby.
The incident occurred at Old Trafford in the 60th minute when Haaland appeared to have his goal disallowed for offside. After a VAR review, semi-automated technology indicated the striker was three centimeters onside from Josko Gvardiol’s cross, leading officials to award the goal as the sole scoreline of the match.
However, post-match analysis revealed that video officials Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus did not evaluate Fernandez’s positioning. The Portuguese midfielder was in a central position and interfered with play by diving at the ball, which distracted Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez. Martinez initially marked Haaland but shifted focus to intercept Fernandez, leaving the Norwegian striker free at the back post to score.
Speaking on the inaugural season edition of ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up,’ Webb expressed deep regret over the mistake.
“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 explained that the VAR team suffered from “tunnel vision” after confirming Haaland was onside. Rather than reviewing the entire phase of play, they only checked for a touch by Fernandez that might have created a new offside phase for Haaland, completely overlooking his interference with opponents.
“The VAR gets super-focused on Haaland,” Webb noted. “He establishes he’s onside… but 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.”
Former England striker Wayne Rooney echoed the criticism on Match of the Day, stating it was “baffling” that officials missed an offside offense that anyone who has played the game at any level would recognize.
Due to the severity of the error, Donohue and Antrobus will not officiate any matches until after the international break. Webb confirmed that Pro Ref has shared the VAR audio and video with Manchester United and plans to review the incident to prevent similar errors in the future.
In other decisions from the match, Webb supported the red card shown to Manchester City’s Phil Foden in the 23rd minute for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes. However, he argued that Fernandes’ retaliatory kick did not warrant violent conduct sanctions.
“I agree with the red card for Phil Foden,” Webb stated. “When you look at the footage, there is that petulant kick by Bruno Fernandes into the backside of Foden. It is more petulant than violent. To be violent conduct, it has to have excessive force or brutality.”
Webb added that while Fernandes’ action deserved only a yellow card, the severity of Foden’s offense justified the dismissal, regardless of whether it was reviewed via VAR or judged pitchside.
Bruno’s kick was definitely petulant, but a yellow feels harsh. Foden started it, yet Fernandes gets off with just a card?
Tunnel vision is the real culprit here. The VAR saw Haaland onside and stopped thinking. That is just negligence, plain and simple.