ERLING HAALAND scored a controversial winner for Manchester City as they edged past Manchester United.
The Norwegian ace crashed home the winner on the hour mark of the Manchester derby, seeing City leave Old Trafford with three points despite Phil Foden‘s first-half sending off leaving the visitors with 10-en for most of the game.
However, Haaland’s goal only stood after a lengthy VAR check.
Referee Michael Oliver had initially called the 26-year-old as offside.
But the City ace was actually being played on by Patrick Dorgu‘s outstretched toe.
Although the controversy came down to Enzo Fernandez’s involvement in the sequence of play.
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City’s record buy had been seen standing in an offside position when he lunged towards the ball and impacting Lisandro Martinez’s attempt to clear it.
He did not touch the ball as he attempted to dive towards it before it fell to Haaland who crashed it home into the roof of the net in front of the visiting fans.
And the goal was then given by VAR, with a statement from the Premier League Match Centre explaining: “VAR checked the referee’s call of no goal for offside – and determined that Haaland was in an onside position and recommended that the goal was awarded.
“The VAR also deemed that while in an offside position, Fernandez didn’t play the ball.”
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However, this seemingly contradicts Ifab’s definition of the offside law.
Law 11 states a player should be penalised for offside if they prevent an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing their line of vision.
Former Prem ref Mark Halsey told SunSport: “We saw more controversy in the Manchester derby. Haaland has put Manchester City 1-0 up only for the assistant referee to rule the goal out as offside.
“Now when we look at it, Haaland is not offside but Fernandez is offside. When the ball comes across, he’s in an offside position.
“Being in an offside position is not an offence in itself. It only becomes an offside offence if the player involved becomes involved in active play by interfering with an opponent or making a deliberate play to play the ball.
“In my opinion, Fernandez does that. And I believe that the assistant referee was correct in flagging Fernandez as offside.
“Obviously all goals are checked. VAR have looked at it, and they have decided that the goal is onside.
“In my opinion, it’s subjective to whether you feel Fernandez is making a deliberate play for the ball, or becoming involved in an active play and interfering with defenders.
“If that’s the case, the subjectivity – VAR – should not have got involved. They should have stuck with the on-field decision of offside, which I believe was the correct call.”
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