Refereeing body Pro Ref has admitted an error in awarding Manchester City's winner at Manchester United in their 1-0 victory at Old Trafford. In a statement released just hours after Man City's win, Pro Ref revealed it had made contact with Man Utd to acknowledge an "error of judgment" and that the VAR "should have recommended an on-field review" for Erling Haaland's winner. The striker's goal was initially disallowed for offside on the pitch before VAR overturned the decision.
The VAR officials deemed that Haaland was played onside by Man Utd defender Patrick Dorgu. However, Man City's Enzo Fernandez was in an offside position as he attempted to play the ball before it reached Haaland. Despite not touching the ball, Fernandez's movement appeared to impact the defending of Man Utd's Lisandro Martinez before Haaland's back-post finish, which by the laws of the game should have led to the goal remaining disallowed.
A Pro Ref spokesperson said: "Following the incident in the 60th minute of Sunday's Premier League fixture between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford, we can provide clarification regarding Erling Haaland's awarded goal. The on-field decision was offside against Erling Haaland - that was checked by VAR and he was found to be in an onside position. In the same attack, it was established that Enzo Fernandez did not play the ball and therefore that makes any offside offence subjective, however, on this occasion, the VAR did not recognise the likely impact of his position and should have recommended an on-field review.
Contact has been made with Manchester United this evening to acknowledge what we deem is an error of judgement. A review of the incident will take place." What is Pro Ref? Pro Ref (Professional Game Referees) is English football's refereeing body, which was formerly known as PGMO after a rebrand in the summer. Ex-Premier League referee Howard Webb leads the body. Match officials: Referee: Michael Oliver.
Assistants: Stuart Burt, Tim Wood. Fourth official: Paul Tierney. VAR: Matt Donohue. Assistant VAR: Blake Antrobus. The Premier League Match Centre wrote: 'VAR checked the referee's call of no goal for offside - and determined that Haaland was in an onside position and recommended that the goal was awarded. The VAR also deemed that while in an offside position, Fernandez didn't play the ball.'
However, the offside rule clearly stipulates that a player can be offside despite not playing the ball and can interfere with an opponent by: preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball or clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.
Neville predicted error admission: Sky Sports' Gary Neville believed the VAR officials were "wrong" to award Haaland's effort. "There is no doubt that Enzo is attempting to play the ball and putting Lisandro Martinez off. It's a really strange one. They'll recognise they got that wrong... They are ignoring the rule. They will have to retract that." Meanwhile, Man Utd defender Martinez said in his post-match interview that the goal should not have stood: "Every season the officials come to our club and spend an hour explaining the rules and they look so confident with that.
Then after, five or six people doing this kind of mistake in the Premier League is unacceptable. We have to go home with this injustice." Former Man City defender Micah Richards dismissed Match Centre's explanation as a "nonsense": "One hundred per cent he is (attempting to play the ball). I think it's been a bad day for referees and VAR. How you can not say Enzo Fernandez is challenging for the ball - of course he is!"
Roy Keane concluded: "Fernandez is interfering with play. Basically, United have been punished for holding a good line. Fernandez is offside, and he goes to play the ball, so United are getting punished for good defending." https://www.skysports.com/football/news/33694/13585607/
