Webb admits VAR's serious mistake in the Manchester derby: "Tunnel vision, Haaland's goal was illegal"

Howard Webb, the head of the Premier League referees, has publicly admitted a major error in the case of Erling Haaland's decisive goal during the Manchester United-Manchester City derby, held on Sunday, September 13, 2026, at Old Trafford and ending 0-1. The "confession" came on Tuesday, September 15, during the first episode of the new season of "Match Officials Mic'd Up", the official program of the English league dedicated to the analysis of referee decisions through the publication of the original audio between the main referee and the VAR room: "We made a mistake."

What happened in the Manchester derby: Haaland's goal and Fernandez's offside position

In the 60th minute, with City playing with ten men after Phil Foden was sent off, Josko Guardiola cut in from the left: Enzo Fernandez, clearly in an offside position, went towards the ball without touching it, but was blocked by Lisandro Martinez and goalkeeper Senne Lammens, allowing Erling Haaland to score the decisive shot. Referee Michael Oliver initially disallowed the goal on the spot for offside, but VAR Matthew Donohue and assistant Blake Antrobus convinced him to award the goal: Haaland was deemed to be in a legal position by a few centimetres thanks to Patrick Dorgu, while Fernandez's action was wrongly ruled out due to lack of contact with the ball.

Webb's intellectual honesty: "This goal should have been disallowed"

Webb did not seek to use excessive words or excuses for what happened and was judged, and was categorical in his assessment live on television: “It is essential to admit when a mistake is made. This goal should have been disallowed”. The former referee and now head of the Premier League referees explained that the punishability of the offside position does not depend on physical contact: “Fernandez does not touch the ball, but his run affects Martinez and goalkeeper Lammens, taking them offside before Haaland’s shot. VAR had real tunnel vision: it focused only on Haaland’s position and looked for Fernandez’s contact with the ball, forgetting to assess the overall impact of his movement on the action”.

More than a simple technological or line-tracing error, Webb’s admission marks a key moment precisely because it publicly rejects a subjective assessment of an offside position that requires interpretation. In addition to the television analysis, referees’ body Pro Ref contacted Manchester United directly to apologise and to show the audio and footage of what happened. As a direct consequence of the “tunnel vision” evidenced at Old Trafford, Donohue and Antrobus were subsequently suspended from duty until the end of the international break, while the final score of 0-1 remained unchanged in the standings.