Haaland scored the only goal as Man City beat United 1-0 in the first Manchester derby of the 2026-27 season on Sunday (September 13).
The Norwegian was initially flagged for offside, but after a lengthy check, VAR found that Patrick Dorgu had just kept him on.
The issue was with Fernandez, who was in an offside position during the build-up, clearly occupying Lisandro Martinez and influencing play by going to head the ball.
Howard Webb, head of Pro Ref, has since apologised for the ‘error of judgement’, and blamed ‘tunnel vision’ for the decision.
The audio has since been made public.
VAR: “Ok, so on-field decision is offside. Checking the on-field decision of offside against Haaland. Yeah, wide angle, I want to see there’s no players…He’s tight, Genius (semi-automated offside technology). Genius, please.
A discussion then takes place over the point at which the ball is kicked.
SAOT: “Recommendation of onside.”
VAR: “OK, so he’s onside. So we now need to check the full APP (attacking possession phase). Ok, back to Hawkeye. Michael (Oliver), Haaland’s in an onside position but I need to check the full APP, now standby. Haaland’s clearly onside (at the very start of the attack). Roll it all the way through, roll it all the way through.
“Let’s go, that’s fine. Go back, just to check (Iliman) Ndiaye wasn’t offside. Sorry, my apologies. Fine. Let’s go, this should be a goal. All the way into the back of the net now. Quick, quick, quick, let’s go.
“Deflection. Onside. No touch there, confirm no touch (with Fernandez diving in). There, there wasn’t. Just something tighter. (Viewing Fernandez header from another angle). Clear gap. It’s not a touch there, is there? There’s not a touch there? Another angle. Roll it through, roll it through, roll it through. Goal. Michael, confirming that you need to change your decision to goal. Haaland is in an onside position. Final decision is goal, check complete.”