Foden was sent off for violent conduct in Manchester City's 1-0 away victory against Manchester United. He kicked out after being fouled by Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes. Bruno Fernandes appeared to kick Foden first, but Foden was dismissed for his reaction, while Bruno Fernandes went unpunished.

However, there appears to have been confusion during the VAR review of the incident. At that time, the referee's team was checking whether Enzo Fernandes' challenge on Tielemans was a penalty for Manchester United. When referee Michael Oliver showed a red card to Foden, VAR official Matt Donohue was still discussing the penalty and shortly after asked: "Who's been sent off, and for what reason?"

Subsequently, an assistant referee reminded Donohue to analyze Bruno Fernandes' kick towards Foden, which triggered the confrontation between the two players.

Confusing VAR Process in Foden Red Card Incident

Referee: No, no. In my view, the ball was kicked by Enzo Fernandes, and their feet were adjacent.

VAR: Checking for a penalty. Let's see another angle to confirm he kicked the ball. It looks like he did kick the ball.

Foden was subsequently sent off shortly after kicking Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes after being tripped.

Assistant VAR: There may be a kicking motion as well.

Referee: Did he kick him there?

VAR: Confirm you're certain Enzo kicked the ball, so it's not a penalty.

Assistant VAR: There may be violent conduct.

VAR: Okay, and he was then given a red card. So in my view, it's not a penalty here—he kicked the ball, right? Okay, now we need to look at the other situation.

So, who's been sent off here, and for what reason?

Assistant VAR: For kicking. It looks like he was fouled first, then both his feet came up.

VAR: Michael, the penalty has been checked and confirmed it's not a penalty. Please confirm your on-field decision regarding the disciplinary action.

Referee: Red card, Phil Foden. He kicked Bruno Fernandes' body with both feet. Bruno fouled Phil. I think they got tangled, and Phil kicked him as they separated. But they'll check.

VAR: In my view, that's a clear red card. Watch the follow-up, look at the match footage again. Can you confirm?

Red card. Can you confirm? Confirm red card for Manchester City number 47—he kicked the opponent's torso with both feet.

Play it again to confirm Bruno didn't do anything else. I'm very confident he didn't. No, he kicked the ball, doesn't matter.

Assistant VAR: No, that's a different action—Bruno's initial kicking action. That's what they were discussing.

VAR: The force is minimal, very minimal. This is outside our scope of intervention, doesn't matter.

Assistant VAR: Yes, I agree.

Howard Webb, Head of Refereeing, said: "I agree that Phil Foden was sent off for violent conduct. He kicked Bruno Fernandes forcefully in the upper body. We've seen Aston Villa player João Gomes sent off for a similar action. This was seen by the on-field referee, and it was the referee's on-field decision."

"Looking back at the match footage, Bruno Fernandes recklessly kicked Foden's back first. This action is more consistent with recklessness than violent conduct. For it to be considered violent conduct, there must be excessive force or brutality. At normal match speed, this action lacked those elements, so a yellow card should have been given. However, VAR cannot intervene to issue a retroactive yellow card."

"If everyone missed the incident and Foden went unpunished, then VAR could intervene to check whether Foden should be sent off with a red card, and also note Bruno Fernandes' action that should have been a yellow card. But because the referee already showed a red card to Foden, VAR cannot handle it this way."

Sky Sports reporter Laura Hunter said: The review process for this incident was chaotic, but the most concerning aspect is the assessment of Bruno Fernandes' action. VAR official Matt Donohue was distracted by the preceding incident while processing events in real time.

His assistant VAR first raised the issue of Foden's potential kick. Michael Oliver's quick on-field decision to send off Foden became the key to the entire decision. Oliver showed the card decisively, indicating confidence in his assessment, so VAR allowed the decision to stand. It should be noted that the intervention threshold for subjective judgments is deliberately set high to prevent VAR from overriding the referee's decision. This issue remains controversial, but in my view, less VAR intervention is preferable.

Given Oliver's positioning for the decision and Foden's contact with Bruno Fernandes, most people can accept that Foden's dismissal was not a "clear and obvious error." As for whether this action met the standard of "violent conduct," there is certainly room for interpretation.

But the VAR control room did not examine the action that provoked Foden's reaction. Why wasn't this investigated more carefully?

Donohue stated when referring to Bruno Fernandes' involvement: "I'm very confident he didn't do anything." Yet in reality, the Manchester United captain was the one who fouled first, and Foden's kick was retaliation for being fouled and kicked.

Bruno Fernandes receiving no punishment for the same action that resulted in Foden's red card is clearly a significant oversight. In my view, both should have received equal punishment, especially given that Oliver's positioning on the pitch clearly prevented him from seeing the initial part of the incident, and there was no mention of it at all on the pitch.

Isn't VAR's role to alert the referee? Isn't that what the pitchside monitor is for?

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