The winning goal in Sunday’s Manchester derby, the one that sunk Manchester United, was a complete VAR failure. Referees’ chief Howard Webb admitted that the video assistant referee, Matt Donohue, and his assistant, Blake Antrobus, didn’t even assess the offside offense by Enzo Fernandez. This isn’t just a bad call, it’s a fundamental breakdown that directly impacted the derby outcome.
Derby Winner Was a Total VAR Bust
Erling Haaland thought he put Manchester City up in the 60th minute at Old Trafford, but the goal was initially called offside. A VAR review actually found Haaland was just onside, so the goal counted. But hold up, because it immediately screamed ‘error’ to everyone watching: video officials completely missed Enzo Fernandez, who was diving at the ball in a central position and absolutely interfering with opponents. Howard Webb, Premier League refereeing body Pro Ref’s chief refereeing officer, didn’t mince words, saying he was “really disappointed” with the error. He added, “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.” The consequence? Those officials won’t be on the field again until after the international break. Rough.
Tunnel Vision: How They Blew It
So, how in the world did this happen? Fans were rightly baffled. The ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ audio gave us the answer, and it’s wild: Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus never even considered Fernandez’s offside position. Webb said they got “tunnel vision” over Haaland. The semi-automated offside tech confirmed Haaland was three centimeters onside from Josko Gvardiol’s cross, which is super precise, right? But the VAR team then only looked for Fernandez to *touch* the ball, which would’ve created a new offside phase. They completely missed the “interfering with opponents” part. Webb explained it perfectly: “The VAR gets super-focused on Haaland.” He saw Haaland was onside and thought, “Good goal.” He didn’t “truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez’s position.” It was total tunnel vision, and the rest of the team failed to pull him out of it. Webb made it clear: “This goal should’ve been disallowed. And highly unfortunately, it wasn’t.”
The Foden Red Card Debate
Beyond the offside chaos, there was also a red card shown to Phil Foden in the 23rd minute for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes. This sparked a whole other debate because Fernandes wasn’t sanctioned for a similar act. Webb stood by the red card for Foden, saying he “kicks out with force into the upper body of Bruno Fernandes.” He agreed that Fernandes did have a “petulant kick” into Foden’s backside, but stressed it was “more petulant than violent,” not meeting the threshold for “excessive force or brutality” needed for a violent conduct call. Good to get some clarity on that, at least.
This absolute mess leaves a sour taste, especially after a derby. Webb stressed they’ll “review it, reflect upon it, and try to take the learning forward to prevent this unusual type of error from happening again.” You gotta hope this sparks some serious changes to how VAR operates, because right now, this kind of “tunnel vision” feels like it’s robbing the game. Fans deserve better, no doubt.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by BBC Sport.
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