Howard Webb, the Premier League's chief refereeing officer, has confirmed that the VAR team failed to assess an offside offence by Enzo Fernandez that led directly to Erling Haaland's winning goal in Sunday's Manchester derby.
Webb made the admission on the opening episode of Match Officials Mic'd Up for the season, saying he was "really disappointed" with the error committed by VAR official Matt Donohue and his assistant Blake Antrobus.
How the mistake unfolded
Haaland appeared to score the only goal of the game at Old Trafford in the 60th minute, but the effort was initially ruled out for offside on the pitch. A subsequent VAR review determined that Haaland was three centimetres onside from Josko Gvardiol's cross, and the goal was awarded.
What went unnoticed, however, was that Fernandez — diving at the ball in a central position — was in an offside position and interfering with opponents. Manchester United goalkeeper Sanne Lammens had positioned herself in anticipation of Fernandez playing the ball, and defender Lisandro Martinez was also in close proximity.
"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."
Tunnel vision on Haaland
Audio from the Match Officials Mic'd Up broadcast revealed that Donohue and Antrobus never considered Fernandez's position at any point during their review. According to Webb, the VAR team became so fixated on confirming whether Haaland was onside that they developed what he described as "tunnel vision."
"The VAR gets super-focused on Haaland," Webb explained. "He establishes he's onside, he thinks that's a good goal. He doesn't truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez's position."
Webb added that Donohue checked only whether Fernandez had touched the ball — which would have created a new offside phase affecting Haaland — rather than assessing the broader question of interference. "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 said.
Webb confirmed that both Donohue and Antrobus will not officiate again until after the international break. He also confirmed he had already contacted Manchester United to share the VAR audio and video from the incident.
Foden red card and Fernandes controversy
The derby also sparked debate over the red card shown to Manchester City's Phil Foden in the 23rd minute for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes. Many observers questioned why Fernandes received no punishment for a similar act directed at Foden.
Webb backed the decision to dismiss Foden, but drew a distinction between the two incidents. "He kicks out with force into the upper body of Bruno Fernandes," Webb said. "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."
Webb explained that violent conduct requires excessive force or brutality, neither of which he felt applied to Fernandes' action — making it a yellow-card offence rather than a red. He added that, had Foden's dismissal been triggered by a VAR review rather than an on-field decision — as was the case with Aston Villa's Joao Gomes at Brighton last month — Fernandes' yellow-card offence would also have been flagged at the pitchside monitor.
