Manchester United manager Michael Carrick has strongly criticised the decision to allow Erling Haaland’s controversial winner in Sunday’s Manchester derby.
Manchester City secured a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford after Haaland found the back of the net in the second half, despite the goal initially being ruled out for offside. The decision was overturned after a VAR review, with Haaland deemed to have been onside when the ball was played.
However, Manchester United were furious because Enzo Fernández was in an offside positd appearempt to play the ball during the build-up. Carrick described the decision and the explanation behind it as “staggering”, questioning how the VAR process could fail to properly consider Fernández’s involvement in the incident.
“How you can say Enzo Fernandez does not interfer with the play literally is beyond me. It's staggering, I'm confused. We put things in place in the game now. We have people in offices with all the screens for this."
The United boss also expressed concern about the interpretation of the offside rule and the effectiveness of the technology being used to review such decisive incidents.
PRO Ref admits VAR error
Carrick’s frustration was later reinforced when Pro Ref, the body responsible for Premier League refereeing, admitted that the VAR decision was wrong. The refereeing body acknowledged that VAR failed to properly consider Fernández’s positional influence and said the referee should have been sent to the pitch-side monitor for an on-field review.
Despite playing against 10 men for more than an hour following Phil Foden’s red card, Manchester United were unable to find an equaliser as Haaland’s goal proved decisive.
The defeat leaves Carrick facing further questions after United failed to take advantage of their numerical superiority, while Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season.
Read the Latest Sports News Today and Get Fresh updates as they drop via X and Instagram
