The transcript from Sunday’s Manchester derby captures the moment VAR Matt Donohue talked himself past Enzo Fernandez’s offside position and confirmed Haaland’s 60th-minute winner in Manchester City’s 1-0 win at Old Trafford.

After the on-field flag went up, the audio released as part of the Match Officials: Mic’d Up programme shows Donohue narrating a check that started on Haaland’s line and never widened back out.

“Possible offside… Checking the on-field decision of offside against Haaland. He’s tight. He’s onside.”

That verdict was correct: replays put Haaland onside by three centimetres, played on by Manchester United defender Patrick Dorgu. The problem was what came next. Donohue was supposed to run the full attacking possession phase and ask whether Fernandez, who had lunged in front of Haaland from an offside position, had interfered.

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“No touch there, confirm no touch. Clear gap. It’s not a touch there is it? Goal.”

That leading final question, and the answer no one at Stockley Park challenged, is the exchange Pro Ref chief Howard Webb singled out on the show.

“The VAR gets super-focused on Haaland. He establishes he’s onside. But of course, when he then runs it back through the full APP, he doesn’t truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez’s position,” Webb said.

“He gets focused on Haaland, and it’s down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

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Why not touching was not enough

Webb’s central point is that a player does not have to touch the ball to be offside. Fernandez, from an offside position, dived across the six-yard box in an attempt to head Josko Gvardiol’s cross, close enough to affect United defender Lisandro Martinez and goalkeeper Senne Lammens.

“Fernandez doesn’t actually touch the ball, so he has not committed what we would call a factual offside offence of interfering with play,” Webb told the show, “but he almost certainly interfered with the Manchester United defence and probably the goalkeeper as well.”

Webb’s own verdict was blunt.

“This goal should have been disallowed.”

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‘Error of judgement’ and two officials stood down

Pro Ref did not wait for its weekly review. In a statement issued the same evening, the body said it had contacted Manchester United “to acknowledge what we deem is an ‘error of judgement'” and that the VAR should have recommended an on-field review.

Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus have been stood down until after the international break. On-field referee Michael Oliver, who followed the VAR’s recommendation, has not been sanctioned. The result stands: City took the three points despite playing much of the second half with 10 men after Phil Foden’s earlier dismissal.

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