Howard Webb, head of the refereeing body that manages officials for Premier League matches, said “tunnel vision” by the video assistant referee (VAR) was the reason officials incorrectly awarded Erling Haaland’s winning goal in Sunday’s Manchester derby.
Haaland’s 60th-minute strike at Old Trafford, initially ruled offside on the field, was overturned and awarded after a lengthy review by VAR Matt Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus.
With the help of semi-automated technology, the officials correctly determined that Haaland was in an onside position when Josko Gvardiol crossed the ball, but they failed to recognize that a diving Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position, was interfering with play.
The officials checked to see if Fernandez touched the ball – he didn’t – but never discussed whether the Argentine midfielder impacted the play before telling on-field referee Michael Oliver that the goal should be allowed.
“I was really disappointed with this outcome. We all are. None more so than the officials themselves,” Webb said Tuesday on “Match Officials Mic’d Up,” the Premier League’s in-house series that analyzes refereeing decisions.
“They take a lot of personal pride in what they do, and they’re obviously hurting now, having fallen short in this situation. (Donohue and Antrobus won’t) be officiating again until after the international break.”
Webb, the chief refereeing officer at Pro Ref, explained: “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.”
Webb added: “It’s down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”
Haaland’s goal gave Manchester City a 1-0 win and prompted the likes of Michael Carrick and Lisandro Martinez from United to question the officiating in the immediate aftermath.
“This goal should’ve been disallowed. 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,” Webb said.
VAR transcript
“Match Officials Mic’d Up” released the VAR audio from the incident demonstrating Donohue’s failure to recognize Fernandez’s involvement.
After correctly determining that Haaland is onside – by 3 centimeters – the discussion quickly glosses over Fernandez’s influence on the play.
VAR (Donohue): OK, so (Haaland’s) onside. So we now need to check the full APP (attacking possession phase). OK, back to Hawkeye.
Michael (Oliver), Haaland’s in an onside position but I need to check the full APP, now stand by. Haaland’s clearly onside (at the very start of the attack). Roll it all the way through, roll it all the way through. …
Deflection. Onside. No touch there, confirm no touch (on Fernandez’s diving header attempt). There, there wasn’t. Just something tighter. Clear gap. It’s not a touch there, is there? There’s not a touch there? Another angle. Roll it through, roll it through, roll it through. Goal.
Michael (Oliver), confirming that you need to change your decision to goal. Haaland is in onside position. Final decision is goal, check complete.
Webb said the refereeing body “reached out to Manchester United and acknowledged the error, as we do when these things happen.”