Referees group Pro Ref acknowledges error on Erling Haaland's goal to win Manchester derby

The body responsible refereeing games in English football has acknowledged that an incorrect decision was made to award Erling Haaland's goal in 10-man Manchester City's 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. Professional Game Referees (Pro Ref — formerly known as PGMOL) says "an error in judgment" was made by VAR, releasing a statement a few hours before the game. MORE — How did VAR get it wrong? Pro Ref says it has reached out to Manchester United to apologize for the error, and that VAR should have asked head referee Michael Oliver to conduct an on-field review. Josko Gvardiol snapped in a cross from the left and it took a wicked turn off the nearest defender. Erling Haaland was originally ruled to be offside at the time of the cross, but VAR review found the Norwegian to be onside. The problem is that Enzo Fernandez was offside at the time of the cross and he surged toward the cross in a bid to head past United goalkeeper Senne Lammens. Fernandez did not make contact with the ball. MORE —  Player ratings  |  Michael Carrick lashes out at refs Red Devils defender Lisandro Martinez had stayed with Fernandez and claimed he wouldn't have done so had the Man City player not moved toward the ball. That feels a bit dubious when rewatching the video, but is also besides the point. Haaland was all alone and slammed the ball past Lammens for what would be the game's lone goal. Statement from spokesman for Pro Ref on Man City winner versus Man Utd via our friends at Sky Sports "Following the incident in the 60th minute of Sunday's Premier League fixture between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford, we can provide clarification regarding Erling Haaland's awarded goal. "The on-field decision was offside against Erling Haaland - that was checked by VAR and he was found to be in an onside position. "In the same attack, it was established that Enzo Fernandez did not play the ball and therefore that makes any offside offence subjective, however, on this occasion, the VAR did not recognise the likely impact of his position and should have recommended an on-field review. "Contact has been made with Manchester United this evening to acknowledge what we deem is an error of judgement. A review of the incident will take place."