Erling Haaland’s winner in the Manchester derby should not have stood because Enzo Fernandez made a “deliberate play for the ball” in an offside position, says former Premier League referee chief Keith Hackett.
Manchester City emerged victorious on Sunday afternoon, with Haaland moving out on his own at the top of the Premier League scoring charts with his fourth goal of the season.
However, the goal being allowed to stand has prompted anger amongst Manchester United boss Michael Carrick and defender Lisandro Martinez, while Gary Neville believes an apology from Ref Pro is forthcoming.
Haaland’s strike was awarded following a VAR check after the goal had initially been ruled out for offside. Though the controversy surrounds Fernandez and the impact he had on stopping Martinez from getting to the ball first.
The Premier League match centre have since issued a statement, saying that “while in an offside position, Fernandez didn’t play the ball.”
Upon reviewing the incident, Hackett believes the initial on-field decision was correct and subsequent explanation is wrong, insisting Fernandez became active by attempting to head the ball.
“The goal should have been ruled out for offside,” Hackett said in response on social media.
“Fernandez made a deliberate play for the ball.
“Fernandez in an offside position becomes active when he makes a deliberate play for the ball
“He is offside. Listening to the Match Centre manipulating the law interpretation.”
Despite having half an hour to find an equaliser against ten men, after Phil Foden was dismissed for violent conduct in the first half, Man United slumped to their second defeat of the season but Carrick has vowed the result will not define his side’s campaign.
"It’s not going to change the season," he said. "It’s a major impact on the game today, and it was a massive game, so there’s a long season ahead.
“We’ve got to get back to winning football matches. That’s on us, but that decision, that wasn’t on us today. It’s up to us to then create and score after that. Of course it is. We had moments. It’s not easy but it’s up to us to do that.
It’s a major impact on the game today, and it was a massive game, so there’s a long season ahead
Michael Carrick
“We’ve seen it before. Big moments, big games like that have a huge impact, and obviously it did today. I thought we started the second half pretty well, to be honest.
"I think we did a lot of things well, to be honest, and looked like we were growing into the game and looked dangerous.
"We’ll take it from the game and move on and learn from it. But we’re not moving on lightly. We’ve got to get back to winning as a team.
