Urgent: The referees' organization has made a decision regarding Manchester City's goal against Manchester United.
"Pro Ref," England's professional referees' organization, has admitted an error in the decision when Manchester City scored the winning goal in their 1-0 away victory over Manchester United in the English Premier League last night and has already contacted Manchester United.
The incident occurred in the 60th minute when Manchester City launched an attack before Joško Gvardiol crossed the ball to Erling Haaland, who finished at the far post. The linesman raised the offside flag, but the VAR referee intervened, stating Haaland was not offside, and advised the on-field referee Michael Oliver to overturn the decision and award the goal to Manchester City.
They also noted that Enzo Fernández, who was in an offside position, did not interfere with play in this instance, despite the player attempting a diving header that disturbed Manchester United defender Lisandro Martínez. "Pro Ref" has since admitted the error.
"Regarding the incident in the 60th minute of the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford, we would like to clarify the goal scored by Erling Haaland that was awarded."
"The on-field decision was that Erling Haaland was offside, but VAR reviewed the footage and found he was onside."
"During the same attack, it was confirmed that Enzo Fernández did not play the ball, so the offside judgment relies on discretion. In this case, VAR failed to recognize the likely impact of his position and should have advised the on-field referee to review the incident himself."
"We have contacted Manchester United to acknowledge what we consider a discretionary error and will continue to review the incident," Pro Ref stated.