Phil Foden’s dismissal at Old Trafford settled the Manchester derby, but it was what happened seconds earlier that left United supporters seething. As Michael Oliver reached for his pocket, replays showed Bruno Fernandes lashing out at Foden moments before the City man’s own retaliation. Only one player walked off. PGMOL chief Howard Webb has now explained exactly why.
Why Phil Foden’s Manchester Derby Red Card Sparked Fury at Old Trafford
Manchester City won 1-0 at Old Trafford, but the enduring image from the derby was Foden’s red card for violent conduct after he kicked out at Fernandes during a tangle between the two players. Referee Michael Oliver produced the card on the field, and VAR did not intervene to overturn it.
For United fans, the flashpoint was not really Foden’s reaction but what preceded it. Slow-motion footage circulated widely showing Fernandes catching Foden with a kick of his own during the same coming-together, an act that went entirely unpunished on the day. With City’s win confirmed and City’s man dismissed, the question of why United’s captain escaped any sanction became the dominant post-match talking point.
Howard Webb, the head of the Pro Ref, addressed the incident directly in his role reviewing controversial calls for broadcast audiences. His explanation, delivered with reference to the exact wording of the laws of the game, was unambiguous about what should and should not have happened.
What Howard Webb’s Breakdown Reveals About Bruno Fernandes and VAR Rules
Webb began by confirming that Pro Ref fully supports Oliver’s decision to send off Foden. “I agree with the red card for Phil Foden for violent conduct. He kicks out with force into the upper body of Bruno Fernandes,” Webb said. “We saw a player sent off for Aston Villa, Joao Gomes, for a similar thing.” That comparison mattered: it placed Foden’s kick firmly in the category of actions that meet the threshold for violent conduct under the laws of the game, leaving no ambiguity about the severity of the offence.
Fernandes’ role in the incident received equally forensic treatment. Webb was clear that what the United captain did was a lesser offence, but an offence nonetheless. “When you look at the footage, there is the petulant kick from Fernandes into the back side of Foden,” he explained. “It is more petulant than violent. To be violent conduct, it has to have excessive force or brutality.” That distinction is the crux of the entire controversy: two kicks, in the same passage of play, judged to sit on opposite sides of a legal threshold.
Crucially, Webb did not suggest Bruno Fernandes escaped scrutiny entirely. He confirmed that, viewed at full speed rather than in the slowed-down replays that fuelled fan outrage, the incident falls short of a card that VAR could act upon in isolation. “When you look at that at full speed, it does not have that element,” Webb said. “It would be a yellow card and VAR cannot step in to give a yellow.”
Dissecting Michael Oliver’s Call and Howard Webb’s Protocol Justification
The audio from Oliver’s own assessment on the pitch, captured through the referee communication system, shows he was alive to the coming together between the two players even as he pointed to the spot where Foden would be sent off. “Red card, Phil Foden. Kick out into the body of Bruno,” Oliver said at the time. “The foul is by Bruno on Phil. I think he’s in a tangle and when they are separating, I think Phil kicks him. But they will check.”
That last line is significant. Oliver clearly registered that Fernandes had committed some form of foul before Foden’s retaliation, and flagged it for the VAR check that followed. The review process examined whether Foden’s red card was correct, and whether anything in the buildup changed that picture. It did not, and could not, extend to retrospectively booking Fernandes.
Webb was explicit about why, under current protocol, VAR is barred from initiating an intervention purely to recommend a yellow card. The system exists to catch clear and obvious errors on match-changing decisions, not to mop up every missed caution. Because Oliver had already dealt with the passage of play by sending off Foden, the door for any action against Fernandes closed the moment that decision was made.
“If all of it was missed and nothing was given against Foden, then VAR could step in and see Foden’s actions for a possible red card and capture Fernandes’ yellow card action,” Webb said. “Because the referee gave the red card, that option is not open for VAR.” In other words, had Oliver waved play on and missed the incident completely, the video assistant would have been able to review the whole sequence afresh, including Fernandes’ kick, as part of assessing a potential red card for Foden. Because Oliver acted immediately and correctly, that broader review was never triggered.
How VAR Rules on Yellow Cards Leave Manchester United and Derby Debates Unresolved
The net result is a fixture remembered as much for a refereeing technicality as for the result itself. Foden’s sending-off stood, entirely correctly according to Webb’s own assessment, while Fernandes’ part in provoking the flashpoint went unpunished not through oversight but through the strict boundaries of what VAR is permitted to do.
The episode also reinforces a wider point about how VAR operates within the Premier League. It is not a tool for comprehensive retrospective justice; it exists to correct clear and obvious errors on the most serious sanctions, and yellow cards sit outside its remit once an on-field decision has already been made on the same incident. Fans wanting the system extended to cover missed cautions will find little appetite for that change among officiating chiefs, who continue to draw a firm line between correcting match-changing mistakes and re-litigating every borderline foul.
Full detail on Webb’s explanation, including further context on the officiating decisions from the derby, can be found in Howard Webb’s comments on Sky Sports. For United, the takeaway is straightforward: the red card was correct, the missed yellow was real, and the derby result stands regardless of either.
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