LONDON: The Professional Referees’ Body (Pro Ref) today admitted that the decision to allow Erling Haaland’s winning goal as Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 was an ‘error of judgment’.
Playing with 10 men following Phil Foden’s red card for kicking Bruno Fernandes, Haaland scored the only goal of the match in the 60th minute from a cross by Josko Gvardiol.
The goal was initially disallowed because Haaland was offside, but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) overturned the decision even though City playmaker Enzo Fernandez, who was offside, tried to reach the ball before the Norwegian striker.
Fernandez did not touch the ball, causing the goal to be disallowed, allowing Haaland to celebrate his ninth goal in the league against Manchester’s neighbours.
The Premier League (EPL) Match Centre, in a post on social media after the goal, stated that VAR ‘found Haaland to be in an onside position’ and ‘judged Fernandez not to have played the ball despite being in an offside position’.
However, Pro Ref later came out to confirm that VAR ‘failed to identify the potential impact’ of the Argentine midfielder’s position and ‘should have recommended an on-field review’.
“We have contacted Manchester United tonight to acknowledge what we believe to be an error of judgement. A review of the incident will be carried out,” the statement said.
After the match, United manager Michael Carrick described the match officials’ decision to allow Haaland’s goal as ‘worrying’.
United defender Lisandro Martinez, who was in the controversial situation, insisted that his movement was clearly affected by the presence of his national team-mate and described City’s goal as an ‘injustice’.
“I went towards him because he was right in front of me. That’s why Haaland was free without control behind,” Martinez told Sky Sports.
“Five or six officials making such mistakes on the EPL stage is unacceptable. We need to go home with this injustice.”