Overview
- A VAR review overturned an on-field offside flag to allow Erling Haaland’s winner in Manchester City’s 1-0 win, a decision that left fans inside Old Trafford without the audio context television viewers heard.
- Pro Ref confirmed the VAR team failed to consider the impact of Enzo Fernández from an offside position and said the review was wrong.
- Matt Donohue, the VAR, and assistant Blake Antrobus have been stood down from upcoming Premier League appointments and will not be reconsidered for duty until after the international break.
- Howard Webb, Pro Ref’s chief refereeing officer, is expected to go public imminently on the Match Officials Mic'd Up programme and may present the VAR communications from the review.
- The episode has intensified calls for faster or live release of VAR audio but IFAB and FIFA caution that live feeds could be chaotic and leagues continue to follow different transparency models such as La Liga’s post-match releases or MLS’s past experiments.