Pro Ref chief Howard Webb has admitted that VAR got Erling Haaland’s winning goal in the Manchester derby wrong, saying officials suffered from “tunnel vision” on the Manchester City striker and missed a clear offside offense by teammate Enzo Fernandez.
Webb also addressed the game’s other flashpoint, backing referee Michael Oliver’s decision to send off Phil Foden for violent conduct — while revealing that Bruno Fernandes should have been booked for the kick that sparked the incident, though VAR was unable to intervene.
What Went Wrong on the Haaland Goal
Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday, with 10 men on the pitch after Foden’s dismissal. The winning goal came from Haaland, who was initially flagged offside on the field. VAR reviewed the call and determined Haaland was onside by three centimeters — but in the process, officials failed to account for Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position of his own and affected the play.
Fernandez dove for the ball before it was steered home by Haaland. Even though Fernandez never touched the ball, he significantly hindered Manchester United defenders Lisandro Martinez and goalkeeper Senne Lammens — meaning he should have been flagged for offside interference regardless.
Webb explained the breakdown on “Match Officials Mic’d Up”:
“I was really disappointed with this outcome. We all are. 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. They’ll not be officiating again until after the international break.”
On why the error happened, Webb pointed to the VAR’s singular focus on Haaland’s position:
“The VAR gets super-focused on Haaland. He establishes he’s onside, he thinks that’s a good goal. He doesn’t truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez’s position. He has a look to see if he touches the ball, because then that relates to potentially knocking it to Haaland, who goes on to score. 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 confirmed that Pro Ref has since reached out to Manchester United to acknowledge the mistake and shared the audio and footage from the review with the club.
“This goal should’ve been disallowed,” Webb said. “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.”
What the Officials Said in Real Time
The VAR audio from the incident captured the review as it unfolded:
- Assistant VAR: “Enzo, Enzo.”
- VAR: “Possible offside.”
- Assistant VAR: “I’m going to go offside, Haaland.”
- Referee: “On-field decision is offside.”
- VAR: “Checking the on-field decision of offside against Haaland. He’s tight. He’s onside, so now we need to check the full attacking possession phase (APP). Haaland’s in an onside position, but I need to check the full APP. Go back to see if [Iliman] Ndiaye is onside when it is flicked. Yes. Go, go, go, so it should be a goal. No touch there [from Enzo Fernandez], confirm no touch. Clear gap. It’s not a touch there is it? Goal.”
- VAR (to referee): “Michael, confirming that you need to change your decision to goal. Haaland is in an onside position. Final decision is goal; check complete.”
Howard Webb ‘Agrees’ With the Phil Foden Red Card
Turning to the second controversy of the afternoon, Webb confirmed that referee Michael Oliver made the correct call in sending off Phil Foden for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.
“I agree with the red card for Phil Foden,” Webb said. “He kicks out with force into the upper body of Bruno Fernandes.”
However, Webb also pointed out that Fernandes escaped punishment for the kick that started the confrontation in the first place — and that, in isolation, it should have been carded too.
“When you look at the footage, there is that petulant kick by Bruno Fernandes into the backside of Foden,” Webb said. “It is more petulant than violent. To be violent conduct, it has to have excessive force or brutality. When you look at that, particularly in full speed, it doesn’t have those elements. So therefore, this would be a yellow card offence.”
Adding to the confusion in the moment, VAR was simultaneously reviewing a separate potential Manchester United penalty for a challenge by Enzo Fernandez on Youri Tielemans. As referee Michael Oliver showed Foden the red card, VAR official Matt Donohue could reportedly be heard asking, “Who has been sent off and for what?” before being alerted by his assistants to review the Fernandes kick that triggered the incident.
Pro Ref’s Full Statement
Howard Webb, chief operating officer of Pro Ref, released the following extended statement on the Haaland goal:
“We felt it was important that we acknowledged an error in the situation. We know that Erling Haaland was penalised for offside and wasn’t in an offside position. We also know that Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position, almost certainly interfered with the Manchester United defence and probably the goalkeeper.
“I was really disappointed with this outcome; we all were. None more than the officials. They take personal pride in what they do and they are hurting now after falling short in this situation. They will not be officiating until after the international break.
“We have reached out to Manchester United and acknowledged the error, as we do when these things happen and they do not happen often. We want to ensure we are transparent and open. We have played the audio and footage to the club to let them know what happened. We will review the situation to understand what elements of the process fell down in this situation which meant we didn’t get to the right outcome.
“Fernandez doesn’t actually touch the ball, so he has not committed what we would call a factual offside offence of interfering with play. But you can still be penalised even if you do not touch the ball. In this situation, as the ball comes across, we see Fernandez dive towards the ball and he gets close to it. That impacts [Lisandro] Martinez; he cannot come and clear the ball. It probably impacts [Senne] Lammens as well, he cannot dive in the way he would or sets himself for potential contact from Fernandez. It is impacting the defence in a couple of ways as a result of the actions he makes in the offside position.
“The on-field decision was not against Fernandez; it was against Haaland. When the VAR starts their check, they see that Haaland is actually onside by three centimetres. The VAR gets super focused on Haaland. He establishes he is onside but when he runs it through the full APP, he doesn’t truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez. In that moment, he gets tunnel vision but it is down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel but unfortunately, that did not happen on this occasion.
“This goal should have been disallowed.”
