Video Assistant Referee Matt Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus have been stood down following the controversial decision to allow Erling Haaland’s winning goal in Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The refereeing body Pro Ref admitted that VAR made an error in the 60th-minute incident after initially ruling Haaland offside. Donohue and Antrobus will not officiate in the next round of Premier League fixtures, with their availability expected to be reconsidered after the international break.
The decision has drawn renewed attention to the Premier League’s VAR process, particularly the way officials handle subjective offside decisions involving players who do not touch the ball.
Haaland scored after Joško Gvardiol delivered the ball into the United penalty area. The assistant referee immediately flagged the Manchester City striker for offside, prompting referee Michael Oliver to disallow the goal.
VAR Donohue then reviewed the decision using the Premier League’s semi-automated offside technology.
The technology showed that Haaland was actually onside, with United defender Patrick Dorgu’s boot playing him onside by around three centimetres. That meant VAR had correctly identified that the original offside decision against Haaland could not stand.
However, the review should not have ended there.
City midfielder Enzo Fernández had moved into an offside position and attempted to play the cross with a diving header before Haaland finished at the back post.
Fernández did not touch the ball.
The officials checked whether Fernández had made contact with the ball but failed to properly assess whether his movement and position interfered with United’s defenders.
Pro Ref later acknowledged that this was the critical error.
“It was established that Enzo Fernandez did not play the ball and therefore that makes any offside offence subjective,” Pro Ref said.
“However, on this occasion, the VAR did not recognise the likely impact of his position and should have recommended an on-field review.”
The offside law does not require a player to touch the ball before officials can penalise an offside offence. A player in an offside position can still be penalised if their actions interfere with an opponent or otherwise become involved in active play.
In this case, Fernández’s attempted header formed part of the debate because United defender Lisandro Martínez was marking him, while goalkeeper Senne Lammens was also positioned behind the defender.
Pro Ref’s review concluded that VAR should have considered whether Fernández’s attempt to play the ball affected the opponents.
Instead, the officials concentrated on whether he had actually touched the cross. Once they determined that he had not, they confirmed Haaland’s goal. That decision ultimately proved decisive because Haaland’s effort remained the only goal of the match.
Pro Ref chief refereeing officer Howard Webb later described the mistake as a case of “tunnel vision”.
Webb said the VAR team became so focused on establishing Haaland’s position that they failed to properly assess Fernández’s involvement.
“In that moment, he gets tunnel vision,” Webb said.
“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 also said he was disappointed by the outcome and confirmed that Pro Ref had contacted Manchester United about the mistake.
“This goal should’ve been disallowed,” Webb said, adding that the organisation would review the incident and use it as a learning point to prevent a similar error.
The released VAR audio provides further insight into how the decision unfolded. After determining that Haaland was onside, Donohue told Oliver that the officials needed to check the full attacking possession phase.
The officials then reviewed Fernández’s attempted header. The discussion focused on whether the midfielder had touched the ball.
After confirming that he had not, Donohue concluded the review and instructed Oliver to overturn the original decision.
“Confirming that you need to change your decision to goal. Haaland is in an onside position. Final decision is goal; check complete,” Donohue told the referee.
The exchange became significant because the officials did not discuss whether Fernández’s attempt to play the ball affected Martínez or Lammens.
That was the subjective element that should have triggered an on-field review.
The error came at a particularly significant point in the match. City had already lost Phil Foden to a red card in the first half, leaving Enzo Maresca’s side with 10 players. United therefore had a numerical advantage when Haaland scored the decisive goal.
United manager Michael Carrick criticised the decision after the match, with the club later receiving an acknowledgement of the VAR error from Pro Ref.
The refereeing body has maintained that the incident represented an error in the VAR process rather than an intentional decision to favour either team.
