Why was Erling Haaland's goal for Man City against Man United allowed? image
Erling Haaland gave Manchester City a 1-0 victory in the derby against Manchester United at Old Trafford, despite Enzo Maresca's men playing the majority of the game with 10 men.
Phil Foden's red card for a clash with Bruno Fernandes looked set to be the flashpoint that dominated the post-match conversation.
But City's winning goal also came laced with controversy as Haaland's ninth goal in Manchester derbies was allowed to stand despite Enzo Fernandez being in an offside position.
Here, we explain the controversial decider from the Manchester derby and why Michael Oliver and his team of officials landed where they did.
MORE: Man United vs. Man City final score highlights as Haaland gives 10-man City derby joy
Why wasn't Erling Haaland's goal vs. Man United disallowed for offside?
With an hour played at Old Trafford, Haaland stole in to smartly convert Josko Gvardiol's cross at the far post. The flag went up.
Haaland was close to being offside, but he plays that line expertly and the Premier League's semi-automated offside system ruled him to be onside.
That's a factual decision and, even though it's tight, it's straightforward enough for the officials. The positioning of Enzo Fernandez on the winning goal is where an element of subjectivity comes in.
Fernandez dived full-length in attempting to head Gvardiol's cross. "The VAR also deemed that while in an offside position, Fernandez didn’t play the ball," read a post from the Premier League's Match Centre on X.
That's true, but the wording of the offside law stipulates that a player can be offside despite not playing the ball and can interfere with an opponent by:
Preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or
challenging an opponent for the ball or
clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or
making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.
Given Fernandez flung himself towards a ball going across the six-yard box when right alongside United defender Lisandro Martinez, it feels like it would have been fairly straightforward for the officials to penalise him on these grounds.
However, working for The Athletic, former Premier League referee Graham Scott said the fact that Fernandez did not impede Martinez's sight of the ball was a key factor. Additionally, Haaland was the player initially ruled offside, meaning that application of the VAR protocol effectively meant a higher bar for disallowing the goal on the basis of Fernandez's positioning.
"United have a case, but Martinez can see the ball all the way and the evidence would need to be more compelling for VAR to intervene," Scott said.
"On field, it is highly likely that Enzo’s actions were not given much consideration because the assistant was certain Haaland was offside.
"As a result, the VAR was being asked to judge whether the officials at Old Trafford had made a clear error, when in reality they had not formed a judgement at all."