Manchester derby VAR had ‘tunnel vision’ in allowing Erling Haaland goal, Howard Webb admits

Pro Ref chief refereeing officer Howard Webb says VAR Matt Donohue suffered from “tunnel vision” when allowing Erling Haaland’s goal to stand in Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday.

Donohue was badly at fault in a pivotal moment of the Manchester derby when primarily focusing his VAR checks on whether Haaland had been played onside from the cross into the box.

The eventual goalscorer was found to be 3cm onside but the process failed to account for the role played by City’s Enzo Fernandez, who had advanced from an offside position to distract United defender Lisandro Martinez. The goal was eventually given without consultation with the on-pitch referee Michael Oliver.

Pro Ref was quick to accept the “error of judgment” in the hours that followed United’s defeat and Webb says Donohue, as well as assistant VAR Blake Antrobus, failed to “truly evaluate the full impact” of Fernandez’s role.

“The on-field decision (initially ruling the goal out) is not against Fernandez, it’s against Haaland,” says Webb, appearing on the Premier League’s in-house Mic’d Up series on Tuesday.

“You’ll hear that clearly on the comms. And when the VAR starts their check, they see through the use of the semi-automated offside technology, that Haaland, when he’s played, is actually onside by three centimetres, played on by Dorgu on the far side, and the VAR gets super focused on Haaland.

Haaland was found to be onside for the goal but the VAR did not account for Enzo Fernandez (not pictured). (YouTube/Sky Sports)

“But of course, when he then runs it back through the full APP, he doesn’t truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez’s position. He has a look to see if he touches the ball, because then that relates to potentially knocking it to Haaland, who goes on to score.

“He doesn’t touch the ball, but he doesn’t truly evaluate other elements of offside. In that moment, he gets tunnel vision. He gets focused on Haaland, and 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.”

Webb has been in contact with United officials in the last 48 hours, playing back the audio and footage of the incident that brought City a crucial victory with 10 men. Donohue and Antrobus have also been stood down from duties until after the international break, which begins after this weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures.

“I was really disappointed with this outcome,” added Webb. “We all are. 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.

“We’ve reached out to Manchester United and acknowledged the error, as we do when these things happen. We’re going to review this situation to understand what elements of the process fell down in this situation which meant we didn’t get to the right outcome.”