On September 16 (UK time), Howard Webb, head of referees at PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited), acknowledged that Manchester City's goal in their 1-0 victory over Manchester United on Sunday should have been ruled offside. Webb stated that VAR official Matt Donohue experienced a "tunnel vision" effect when Erling Haaland's goal was allowed.

At this crucial moment in the Manchester derby, Donohue made a serious error by focusing VAR's check primarily on whether Erling Haaland was in an onside position when he received the cross into the box.

Ultimately, Erling Haaland was ruled onside because he was just 3cm ahead of the offside line. However, throughout the entire decision-making process, the role of Manchester City player Enzo Fernández—who was in an offside position and obstructed Manchester United defender Lisandro Martínez—was not considered. In the end, the goal was allowed without communication with on-field referee Michael Oliver.

Within hours of Manchester United's defeat, PGMOL immediately acknowledged this as a "judgment error." Webb stated that both Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus "failed to properly assess the full impact of Enzo Fernández's position."

Webb said on Tuesday during the Premier League's internal program "Mic'd Up": "The initial on-field decision (no goal) was not because of Enzo Fernández, but because of Erling Haaland."

"You'll hear it clearly in the audio. When VAR started their check, through semi-automated offside technology they discovered that Erling Haaland was actually onside at the moment of the pass, and the technology showed him to be onside. So VAR became overly focused on Erling Haaland."

"But of course, when he replayed through the entire attacking phase, he didn't actually assess the full impact of Enzo Fernández's position. He checked whether Enzo Fernández touched the ball, because if he had, he might have deflected it to Erling Haaland for the goal.

"Enzo Fernández didn't touch the ball, but VAR didn't actually assess other factors relevant to the offside decision. At that moment, he was experiencing a 'tunnel vision' effect, with all attention focused on Erling Haaland. His colleagues should have helped him see beyond this limitation, but unfortunately they didn't on this occasion."

Over the past 48 hours, Webb has been in contact with Manchester United officials, reviewing the audio recording of the decision and replaying footage of the match. Due to this decision, Manchester City were able to secure an important victory with 10 men. Both Donohue and Antrobus have been suspended from refereeing duties through this weekend's Premier League matches and the start of the international break.

Webb added: "We, like everyone else, are very disappointed with this outcome. Even the referees themselves are even more disappointed. They take great pride in their work, and when they fail to make the right decision in situations like this, they are clearly feeling very badly about it right now."

"We contacted Manchester United to acknowledge the error. We do so whenever situations like this occur. We will review this situation to understand what went wrong in our decision-making process and ultimately why we didn't get the right result."

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