"Official admission of the scandal": the referees' committee acknowledges the error and confirms Haaland's goal was invalid | Goal.com

Published on 13 Sep 2026 | Reading time: 2 minutes

Manchester United have received official notification from the Professional Game Match Officials (Pro Ref) confirming that Erling Haaland's winning goal for Manchester City in today's derby at Old Trafford should have been disallowed.

The Norwegian sealed a 1-0 win at Old Trafford by slotting the ball into the net at the far post.

But Enzo Fernandez, standing in an offside position, lunged at the ball as it travelled towards Haaland and tried to head it, drawing the attention of Lisandro Martinez and Senne Lemmens.

The Premier League commented on the goal via its official website, saying: "Minute 59: Erling Haaland scores a goal to give Manchester City the lead, but the assistant referee raises his flag to indicate that the Norwegian player was offside."

It added: "The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology reviewed the referee's decision not to award the goal on the grounds of offside, and determined that Haaland was in a legal position and recommended awarding the goal."

The statement continued: "The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology also considered that although Enzo Fernandez was in an offside position, he did not play the ball."

A few hours later, theProfessional Game Match Officials (Pro Ref), headed by Howard Webb, issued a statement admitting that Fernandez's intervention did in fact affect Manchester United's defence, and that the goal should not have stood.

 A spokesperson for the committee said: "Following the incident that occurred in Sunday's Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford, we would like to clarify the matter regarding the goal scored by Erling Haaland."

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He explained: "The referee's initial decision on the pitch was that there was an offside against Erling Haaland, and this was reviewed via the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, which found that he was in a legal position (not offside)."

He added: "In the same attack, it was confirmed that Enzo Fernandez did not touch the ball, which makes the question of awarding the offside offence subject to the referee's judgement. However, in this case, the video assistant referee did not recognise the potential impact of Fernandez's position, and should have recommended that the decision be reviewed by the on-field referee."

He continued: "Manchester United were contacted this evening to acknowledge what we consider to be an error of judgement, and a review of the incident will be carried out."

Spanish outlet "Archivo VAR", which specialises in refereeing cases, branded the decision to award the goal a refereeing farce.

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