Pro Ref chief Howard Webb admits VAR had 'tunnel vision' on Erling Haaland leading to Enzo Fernandez error
Pro Ref chief Howard Webb says VAR had tunnel vision on Erling Haaland which led to them missing Enzo Fernandez's offside in the Manchester derby; Haaland's goal was given offside but VAR overturned the decision, despite Fernandez interfering with play from an offside position
Tuesday 15 September 2026 17:44, UK
Pro Ref chief Howard Webb says VAR missed Enzo Fernandez being offside for Erling Haaland's winning goal in the Manchester derby due to "tunnel vision".
Webb says he is "really disappointed" by the decision to award the goal, which was initially ruled out on the field due to Haaland being flagged offside.
VAR then checked the incident and determined the striker was onside but failed to account for Enzo Fernandez impacting play from an offside position.
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Fernandez dived for the ball before it was steered home by Haaland, and despite severely hindering Lisandro Martinez and Senne Lammens, Fernandez's offside position was overlooked once the VAR officials had confirmed he had not touched the ball - even though a player can be offside without touching the ball.
Webb told Mic'd Up: "The on-field decision was not against Fernandez; it was against Haaland. When the VAR starts their check, they see that Haaland is actually onside by three centimetres.
"The VAR gets super focused on Haaland. He establishes he is onside but when he runs it through the full APP (attacking possession phase), he doesn't truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez.
"In that moment, he gets tunnel vision but it is down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel but unfortunately, that did not happen on this occasion.
"This goal should have been disallowed."
What the officials said...
Assistant VAR: Enzo, Enzo.
VAR: Possible offside.
Assistant VAR: I'm going to go offside, Haaland.
Referee: On-field decision is offside.
VAR: Checking the on-field decision of offside against Haaland. He's tight. He's onside, so now we need to check the full attacking possession phase (APP).
Haaland's in an onside position, but I need to check the full APP. Go back to see if [Iliman] Ndiaye is onside when it is flicked. Yes. Go, go, go, so it should be a goal.
No touch there [from Enzo Fernandez], confirm no touch. Clear gap. It's not a touch there is it? Goal.
Michael, confirming that you need to change your decision to goal. Haaland is in an onside position. Final decision is goal; check complete.
Webb: VAR had 'tunnel vision' on Haaland and missed Enzo offside
Pro Ref chief operating officer Howard Webb:
"We felt it was important that we acknowledged an error in the situation. We know that Erling Haaland was penalised for offside and wasn't in an offside position.
"We also know that Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position, almost certainly interfered with the Manchester United defence and probably the goalkeeper.
"I was really disappointed with this outcome; we all were. None more than the officials. They take personal pride in what they do and they are hurting now after falling short in this situation. They will not be officiating until after the international break.
"We have reached out to Manchester United and acknowledged the error, as we do when these things happen and they do not happen often. We want to ensure we are transparent and open.
"We have played the audio and footage to the club to let them know what happened. We will review the situation to understand what elements of the process fell down in this situation which meant we didn't get to the right outcome.
"Fernandez doesn't actually touch the ball, so he has not committed what we would call a factual offside offence of interfering with play.
"But you can still be penalised even if you do not touch the ball. In this situation, as the ball comes across, we see Fernandez dive towards the ball and he gets close to it.
"That impacts [Lisandro] Martinez; he cannot come and clear the ball. It probably impacts [Senne] Lammens as well, he cannot dive in the way he would or sets himself for potential contact from Fernandez.
"It is impacting the defence in a couple of ways as a result of the actions he makes in the offside position."
Analysis: If VAR can't get the easy ones right, why are we using it at all?
Sky Sports' Laura Hunter:
Pro Ref should not get a pardon for simply admitting their mistake on this one. A full-scale review into how is what they owe the players and clubs involved given it determined the outcome of the game.
"VAR also deemed that while in an offside position, Enzo Fernandez didn't play the ball," is what the Premier League's match centre posted on X in real time. The offside rule appears to have been forgotten here, or at least the full extent of it.
VAR do confirm "no touch" by Fernandez, but fail to recognise he is live in the move. That element is not subjective. The Man City midfielder clearly impacts both Lisandro Martinez and Senne Lammens and yet neither are mentioned.
Nor does Michael Oliver question it. Does he communicate with the linesman to determine who was actually flagged offside? Was it Fernandez, Haaland or both?
A chronological check of the incident with the correct laws applied would have simply finished with Fernandez. Instead, the video officials spent nearly three minutes presiding over a goal that most casual observers could determine should not have stood with just one replay.
There are no excuses for such a catastrophic failing, but it's probably worth labouring the point that, if forensic technology cannot stamp out even the most basic of officiating mistakes, should we be using it at all?
'No one is hurting more than VAR officials - they're human'
Sky Sports News' Kaveh Solhekol:
"I do have an element of sympathy for the VAR and his assistant - they made a mistake. A lot of football fans, particularly Man Utd supporters, will feel it is an unforgivable mistake.
"If you are a VAR and officiating a game as big as the Manchester derby, you really should not be making mistakes of this magnitude.
"But having said that, human beings are human beings. No one is hurting more than the VAR and his assistant. I imagine they've had sleepless nights over this and are replaying what happened over and over again for weeks and months to come.
"Human beings make mistakes and on this occasion, two human beings made a really big mistake which I'm sure they're going to regret for a long time."
