Rooney tears into ‘horrendous’ VAR at Man Utd vs City after Pro Ref admit ‘error of judgement’ | OneFootball

Man Utd legend Wayne Rooney insists that VAR is “horrendous” after Pro Ref admitted an ‘error of judgement’ as the Red Devils lost to Man City on Sunday.

The Citizens came out 1-0 victors in a highly controversial Manchester Derby, which saw a VAR-awarded Erling Haaland goal settle the contest.

Phil Foden was sent off mid-way through the first half for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes after the Man Utd captain had kicked him in an apparent attempt to play the ball.

Haaland broke the deadlock on 60 minutes but it was ruled out for offside – but the goal was given by VAR after they seemed to deem offside Enzo Fernandez was not interfering with play.

But Pro Ref, formerly PGMOL, released a statement to admit that they made “an error of judgement” when reviewing the Man City goal.

The statement read: “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.”

Reacting to the statement being read out, Rooney said on Match of the Day: “I’m just so sick of this VAR. I think it’s horrendous. All the emotion of the game, the energy which the game’s played with.

“And to not see that and recognise that Enzo Fernandez is in an offside position is… anyone who’s played the game at any level understands that and knows that he’s in an offside position. So to get it so wrong, it’s just baffling.”

Analysing the incident, fellow pundit Danny Murphy said: “Haaland is proven to be onside, but Enzo Fernandez, he’s the one we all think is offside. And the reason is, Martinez has got Haaland – that’s his player, you can see him focused on him.

“If Enzo Fernandez doesn’t make this run, [Martinez] sticks with Haaland. But of course, as a defender, he gets back centrally to try and stop him scoring, which then means Haaland is free.

“The second person it affects with this goal is the goalkeeper. You can see him ready for the header because Enzo Fernandez is trying to score, he doesn’t get a touch but then [Lammens’] arms are down [not] ready for the Haaland finish.

“It makes it so simple, and so obvious. But somehow, and we don’t really know how, they’ve missed the impact Enzo Fernandez has on the players around him which therefore means it should have been disallowed.

“It’s a bad one, it is a really bad one. Generally we try here to see them given the benefit of the doubt, but you can’t on this one, I’m afraid.”