Manchester City's winner against United stood despite Enzo Fernandez being offside, and referees admit "an error of judgement". Should the result stand, or is VAR in crisis?
City beat 10-man United 1-0 on an Erling Haaland goal on September 13, after VAR let it stand despite Fernandez standing in an offside position near goal; Pro Ref (formerly PGMOL) later apologised to United.
What happened
Haaland scored in the 60th minute off a Josko Gvardiol cross while City played a man up after Phil Foden's red card. VAR overturned an initial offside call, ruling Fernandez's offside positioning didn't affect play since he didn't touch the ball. Pro Ref later said: 'Contact has been made with Manchester United this evening to acknowledge what we deem is an error of judgement. A review of the incident will take place.'
Why people disagree
United's Lisandro Martinez argued Fernandez's presence directly influenced his positioning and effectively created the space for Haaland to score, making the 'no touch, no interference' standard too narrow. Others argue the letter of the offside rule was followed in real time, and second-guessing split-second calls after the fact undermines the system's authority even when errors occur.
What's still unclear
Whether the Premier League will change how 'interference' is defined under offside VAR rules, or whether this remains an isolated controversy, is still undecided.
Sources
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