Seeing red in Manchester derby
In the Manchester derby there were two huge calls and, again, VAR somehow managed to get both wrong. Well, the first was at the very least morally wrong as opposed to totally wrong by the letter of the law. Bruno Fernandes sneakily kicked Phil Foden while the Manchester City man was defenceless on the ground.
The Manchester derby saw two significant refereeing errors, resulting in VAR not calling for either a yellow or red card despite clear evidence of wrongdoing. Bruno Fernandes kicked Phil Foden while the Manchester City player was on the ground, a decision which should have warranted a yellow or red card. Foden retaliated with a knee to Fernandes' stomach, but the referee viewed this as violent conduct after Fernandes appeared to feign injury.
Foden's honesty was punished with a booking, while Fernandes went unpunished. The VAR was unable to rectify the situation, which might have helped the referee. Surprisingly, Erling Haaland's winning goal compensated for the moral imbalance caused by these mistakes. The offside call in particular was egregious, with Enzo Fernandez appearing to put off Lisandro Martinez and disrupt his defensive duties.
This oversight proved costly for Manchester City, who went down to 10 men. While United fans were understandably frustrated, the tactical advantage forced upon City may have contributed to their victory. Despite the VAR's recent shortcomings, it still managed to get many calls right throughout the season, and ultimately, fairness prevailed.
Written by urgent.news from Yahoo Sports's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
