Howard Webb, the head of refereeing body Pro Ref, has said officials were "really disappointed" after a VAR error wrongly allowed Erling Haaland's goal to stand in Manchester City's 1-0 win over Manchester United in the Manchester Derby.
Haaland's 60th-minute strike was flagged for offside on the field by referee Michael Oliver, but VAR ordered a review and the goal was awarded. Replays later showed that while Haaland himself was onside, City teammate Enzo Fernandez, who was clearly interfering with play, was not.
Webb, who apologised to United just hours after the final whistle, said Oliver should have been sent to review the decision on the pitchside screen but was not, after what he described as an outbreak of "tunnel vision" in the video review booth. The mistake left United manager Michael Carrick seething and fuelled fresh calls for the Premier League to scrap VAR altogether.
Webb explains the error
Speaking for the first time on Match Officials Mic'd Up, broadcast on Sky Sports and TNT Sports, Webb addressed the incident directly. "We felt it was important that we acknowledged an error in this situation," he said. "We know that Erling Haaland, who was penalised on field for offside, wasn't in an offside position. But we also know that Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position, almost certainly interfered with the Manchester United defence and probably the goalkeeper as well."
Daily Mail Sport had previously revealed that Webb was "mortified" by what happened. "I was really disappointed with this outcome," he told the show. "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."
Webb, who has himself refereed a World Cup final, confirmed Pro Ref had contacted United to acknowledge the mistake. "We've reached out to Manchester United and acknowledged the error, as we do when these things happen," he said. "They don't happen that often, but we want to ensure that we are transparent and open, and we've played the audio and the footage to the football club to let them know what happened, and we're going to review this situation to understand what elements of process fell down in this situation which meant we didn't get to the right outcome."
How the VAR booth lost focus on Fernandez
Webb explained that VAR Matt Donohue and assistant Blake Antrobus, who have both been stood down from officiating until after the international break, became fixated on Haaland while checking the goal, and never properly assessed Fernandez's position. "The on-field decision is not against Fernandez, it's against Haaland," Webb said. "You'll hear that clearly on the comms. And when the VAR starts their check, they see through the use of the semi-automated offside technology, that Haaland, when he's played, is actually onside by three centimetres, played on by (United defender Patrick) Dorgu on the far side, and the VAR gets super focused on Haaland. He establishes he's onside, he thinks that's a good goal, Haaland's not offside, as was thought initially.
"But of course, when he then runs it back through the full APP, 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. He doesn't touch the ball, but he doesn't truly evaluate other elements of offside. In that moment, he gets tunnel vision. He gets focused on Haaland, and 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 was unequivocal that the outcome was wrong. "Haaland is onside, and we use the technology, but that's only part of the story and the VAR gets super focused on that particular element and, in that moment, misses the evaluation of Fernandez's position, and this goal should've been disallowed," he said. "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."
Foden red card and Fernandes incident
The derby also saw City's Phil Foden sent off in the first half for kicking out at United captain Bruno Fernandes. Fernandes escaped punishment despite appearing to start the confrontation by kicking Foden on the backside while his opponent was on the ground.
Webb backed the red card for Foden, saying he "kicks out with force into the upper body." He described Fernandes' kick as "more petulant than violent." "To be violent conduct, it has to have excessive force or brutality, and when you look at that, particularly in full speed, it doesn't have those elements," Webb said. "So therefore, this would be a yellow card offence. And the VAR can't step in to recommend the referee looks at the screen to give a yellow card."
