Howard Webb to face cameras over VAR blunder that handed Haaland controversial derby winner

Howard Webb, the Premier League’s Chief Refereeing Officer, is expected to appear on camera this week to explain how VAR wrongly awarded Erling Haaland’s stoppage-time winner in Manchester City’s 1-0 derby victory over Manchester United on Sunday — a decision Pro Ref has since admitted was an ‘error of judgement’.

Haaland bundled home at the back post from Josko Gvardiol’s deflected cross, with the assistant referee initially raising his flag for offside. VAR overruled the call, determining that Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez — stationed in an offside position — had neither touched the ball nor interfered with United defender Lisandro Martinez. Pro Ref subsequently contacted United to acknowledge that Fernandez did in fact interfere with Martinez, and that the original on-field decision should have stood.

Webb is set to be the focal point of the first Match Officials Mic’d Up programme of the season, where he is expected to play out the communications between VAR official Matt Donohue and his assistant Blake Antrobus in the Stockley Park video booth before referee Michael Oliver was instructed to award the goal. According to reports, Oliver recognised the scale of the mistake almost immediately after the goal was given.

Webb authorised Pro Ref’s public statement on the error three hours after full-time and is now prepared to outline what steps will be taken to prevent a similar incident. Both Donohue and Antrobus have been stood down from this weekend’s fixtures and will not officiate again until at least after the international break.

A Pro Ref spokesman confirmed: “Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus have not received appointments this weekend following the Manchester derby on Sunday. The decision made by Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb and the management team comes as the latest match official appointments are released, meaning the VAR and AVAR respectively from the Manchester United v Manchester City fixture will not officiate until at least after the international break.”

Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick, who was in charge of United on the day, was sharply critical of the decision and said the explanation offered by VAR only compounded his frustration. “We put things in place in the game now to help — to layer referees’ decisions, how many screens, how many offices, how many people in an office somewhere to make a decision?” Carrick said. “It’s more worrying if that’s the interpretation of the game of football. If we’ve got people in place that are meant to understand the game and make decisions, if that’s the interpretation of not interfering with play — it makes it worse.”