Pro Ref Chief Howard Webb has admitted his disappointment following the decision to award Erling Haaland’s winner in the Manchester Derby on Sunday.

Manchester United and Manchester City locked horns at Old Trafford at the weekend in a game which has sparked plenty of debate. Phil Foden was shown a red card in the first half after kicking out at Bruno Fernandes, a decision which sparked controversy of its own.

The Red Devils captain was arguably lucky to escape punishment of his own after it appeared he directed a kick of his own at the England international. However, it was the City midfielder who received his marching orders.

VAR Decision Re-Opens Debate

Despite the red card incident, the big talking point came in the second half. With the game locked at 0-0 at the hour mark, Antoine Semenyo delivered a cross to the far post that was converted by Erling Haaland.

The linesman immediately flagged for offside, but the goal was given following a lengthy VAR review which deemed that United full-back Patrick Dorgu had played the Norwegian onside. However, replays showed that Enzo Fernandez was yards offside and directly impacted play, which should have resulted in the strike being chalked off.

This is why the EFL is so much better than the Premier League. None of this nonsense.

Linesman correctly flags for offside but VAR intervenes to wrongly overturn it. Utterly bonkers decision. #ScrapVAR pic.twitter.com/QbmSlUvyCL

— The Football Lowdown (@FBLowdown) September 13, 2026

Fans and pundits were unanimous following the game that the decision to award the goal was the wrong one. This also prompted a furious response from United boss Michael Carrick, who was scathing in his assessment.

Webb Admits Error

Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus were the duo in charge of VAR on Sunday. The pair have since been relived of duties for this weekend’s round of fixtures.

Speaking on Match Officials Mic’d Up Pro Ref chief Howard Webb admitted Fernandez’s position was missed, with Donohue and Antrobus having ‘tunnel vision’ when checking Haaland:

“I was really disappointed with this outcome. 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.

“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. 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.

“What looks like a really clear subjective offside, because Fernandez doesn’t touch the ball but still clearly impacts (the play but) doesn’t get identified, and it’s really disappointing.

“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.”

Manchester City eventually saw out the game to win 1-0 to move level on points with leaders Arsenal.