Howard Webb admits VAR blunder allowed Manchester City's derby winner to stand

Manchester City’s winning goal in Sunday's derby should have been disallowed, refereeing chief Howard Webb has admitted, after video assistant officials failed to check whether Enzo Fernandez was offside.

Erling Haaland’s 60th-minute strike at Old Trafford was initially ruled out on the pitch, but was awarded after a video assistant referee (VAR) review found the striker was three centimetres onside.

However, the VAR team failed to spot that Fernandez, who was in an offside position, had dived at the ball and directly interfered with Manchester United's defenders before the cross reached Haaland.

Speaking on the Match Officials Mic’d Up programme, Webb said he was "really disappointed" with the error and confirmed that VAR Matt Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus have been stood down until after the upcoming international break.

The released audio from the incident showed that the video officials focused entirely on whether Haaland was onside and whether Fernandez had touched the ball, completely overlooking Fernandez's wider impact on the play.

"The VAR gets super-focused on Haaland," Webb said. "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."

Without the distraction, United defender Lisandro Martinez had been marking Haaland but was forced to peel away to try and cover Fernandez's run, leaving Haaland completely unmarked at the back post. Webb called it "a really clear subjective offside" that should have resulted in an on-field review.

Webb also used the television broadcast to call for a major change to the game's accidental handball laws, labelling the current rules "a bit of a nonsense."

He highlighted an incident from a recent match between Ipswich Town and Manchester United, where the ball struck Harry Maguire’s hand before his shot deflected off Jacob Greaves for an Ipswich own goal. Because the goal was classified as an own goal, rather than being scored directly by Maguire, it was allowed to stand. Had Maguire’s shot gone straight in, the accidental handball rule would have forced officials to disallow it.

"We’re in this ridiculous situation whereby the goal is allowed to stand because it’s an own goal," Webb said, arguing that referees should instead only have to judge whether a handball is deliberate or if a player has unnaturally made themselves bigger.

Addressing another flashpoint from Sunday's derby, Webb backed the decision to send off Manchester City's Phil Foden in the 23rd minute for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.

While some fans questioned why Fernandes was not punished for a retaliatory kick, Webb explained that the Portuguese midfielder's action was "more petulant than violent" and did not meet the threshold of excessive force or brutality required for a red card.