Carrick confused that controversial Man City winner allowed to stand

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The Football Faithful

·13 September 2026

Carrick confused that controversial Man City winner allowed to stand

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick has said he is confused as to how Erling Haaland’s winner in the Manchester Derby was allowed to stand.

United lost 1-0 to Manchester City at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Sunday, with the game’s decisive moment filled with controversy.

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Haaland steered in the winner for 10-man Manchester City on the hour, with VAR allowing the goal to stand despite Enzo Fernandez being offside. The latter tried to make contact with Josko Gvardiol’s cross, before the ball found its way to Haaland.

VAR determined that Fernandez had not impacted the game, or covering defender Lisandro Martinez, in a decision that left Carrick baffled.

“I’m confused. We put things in place in the game now. We have people in offices with all the screens for this decision. It’s more worrying about if that’s the interpretation of football now. If that’s the interpretation of not interfering in the game now, that’s really worrying for me. It’s a staggering explanation,” he said to Sky Sports.

“The decision isn’t going to change the season, but it’s had a major impact on the game. That decision wasn’t on us today. It’s up to us to create and score after that. We had moments. Of course it’s up to us to do that, but big moments in games like that have a big impact.

“We did a lot of things well, it looked like we were growing well into the game. We looked dangerous. We’ll take the positives from the game today and move on well, but we’re not moving on lightly.

“We could have created more. That’s an answer for us, but we could have. That’s our second defeat now, since I’ve been in charge, but we’re a good team and we’ll get back to winning ways.”

Should Erling Haaland’s goal have been disallowed? Offside Law – Interfering with an opponent

A player will be penalised if they are:

Preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision; or
Challenging an opponent for the ball; or
Clearly attempting to play the ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent; or
Making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball

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