VAR audio reveals how 'tunnel vision' allowed Haaland's derby winner to stand despite Fernandez offside

VAR officials Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus failed to assess Enzo Fernandez’s offside interference when awarding Erling Haaland’s winner for Manchester City against Manchester United in Sunday’s derby, with referees’ chief Howard Webb confirming the goal should have been disallowed.

Appearing on the Premier League’s Mic’d Up show, Webb — Pro Ref’s chief refereeing officer — said the officials developed “tunnel vision” after establishing that Haaland was onside by three centimetres, never properly evaluating whether Fernandez, who attempted to touch the ball from an offside position, had interfered with the Manchester United defence or goalkeeper.

“The VAR gets super focused on Haaland,” Webb explained. “He establishes he is onside but when he runs it through the full APP, he doesn’t truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez. In that moment, he gets tunnel vision but it is down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel — but unfortunately, that did not happen on this occasion. This goal should have been disallowed.”

Pro Ref had already acknowledged an “error of judgement” on Sunday night, shortly after the final whistle. Webb said both Donohue and Antrobus have been stood down from this weekend’s fixtures and will not officiate again until after the international break.

“We felt it was important that we acknowledged an error in the situation,” Webb said. “We know that Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position, almost certainly interfered with the Manchester United defence and probably the goalkeeper. I was really disappointed with this outcome — we all were. None more than the officials. They take personal pride in what they do and they are hurting now after falling short.”

Webb confirmed that Pro Ref had contacted Manchester United directly, sharing the VAR audio and footage with the club to explain what went wrong. “We want to ensure we are transparent and open,” he said. “We will review the situation to understand what elements of the process fell down, which meant we didn’t get to the right outcome.”

The admission represents one of the most significant public acknowledgements of a VAR failure in the Premier League era, coming with the audio evidence released to both the club and the public through the Mic’d Up format.