VAR officials stood down after Pro Refs admits Fernandez error cost Manchester United in derby

Manchester United have been handed the audio of VAR discussions from Sunday’s Manchester derby after Pro Refs acknowledged that Erling Haaland’s winning goal should have been disallowed for Enzo Fernandez’s offside interference.

VAR Matthew Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus failed to flag Fernandez, who was in an offside position and moved to meet Josko Gvardiol’s cross, distracting both Lisandro Martinez and goalkeeper Senne Lammens before Haaland converted. The on-field offside call against Haaland was overturned, but the officials did not consider Fernandez’s involvement once they had established that Haaland himself was being played onside by Patrick Dorgu.

Pro Refs chief Howard Webb apologised to United within hours of the final whistle and appeared on Match Officials Mic’d Up on Tuesday to explain the breakdown in process. “We felt it was important that we acknowledged an error in this situation,” Webb said. “We know that Erling Haaland, who was penalised on field for offside, wasn’t in an offside position. But we also know that Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position, almost certainly interfered with the Manchester United defence and probably the goalkeeper as well.”

Webb described the officials’ focus narrowing fatally once Haaland’s position had been resolved. “Fernandez doesn’t actually touch the ball, so he’s not committed what we would call a factual offside offence of interfering with play, but you can still be penalised even if you don’t touch the ball,” he said. “As the ball comes across, we see Fernandez sort of dive towards the ball. He gets close to it. That impacts Martinez, who’s nearby — he can’t come and clear the ball. It probably impacts Lammens as well.”

Webb said he was “really disappointed” with the outcome and confirmed that Donohue and Antrobus would not officiate again until after the international break. “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.”

Pro Refs said it had played both the audio and footage of the VAR process to Manchester United directly, and that a full review would be conducted to identify which elements of procedure failed to produce the correct call.