Manchester derby VAR officials stood down from weekend Premier League games

Al Jazeera · collected 2026-09-14 · by Reuters
Read the original at Al Jazeera ↗

Summary

Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus, who were involved in Manchester City’s VAR decision allowing Erling Haaland’s winning goal against Manchester United, will not officiate any Premier League matches this weekend due to Pro Ref's admission that the call was incorrect. The officials are expected to be out of duty until after the international break. Haaland’s goal was initially disallowed for offside but was later ruled valid following a VAR review; however, it emerged that the VAR failed to consider teammate Enzo Fernandez’s involvement in an offside position. Manchester United and Manchester City have upcoming matches in both the League Cup and Premier League over the next week.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-15, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
8
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
12%
1 of 8 hedged
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Correction & hedging signals
95.8
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-15 · how these are computed

AI analysis (generated at analysis time, not now)

Story summary

Matt Donohue, the video assistant referee (VAR) who allowed Erling Haaland’s winner in Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United, has been stood down from officiating next weekend's Premier League games. Similarly, Assistant VAR Blake Antrobus was also not assigned any tasks after Pro Ref acknowledged that the initial decision to allow Haaland’s goal was incorrect. The strike had initially been ruled out for offside but was later awarded as onside following a VAR review. Chief refereeing officer Howard Webb and his management team decided on this exclusion, with neither official expected back until at least after the international break. This incident highlights the scrutiny and accountability in high-stakes football officiating.

Written for “Manchester Derby Controversy” on 2026-09-15, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 9575 · logged 2026-09-15

Story

📰 Manchester Derby Controversy
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event. This is the one the site leads with.

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Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

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Publisher

Al Jazeera · 529 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
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Who wrote this

Reuters
96 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by Reuters
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 96 articles by Reuters →

Topics

4North Korea Manchester City’s Manchester United Premier League Pro Ref

Subjects

Haaland PERSON · 2× Premier League ORG · 2× 4North Korea GPE · 1× Bangladesh GPE · 1× Blake Antrobus PERSON · 1× Erling Haaland’s PERSON · 1× Manchester City’s ORG · 1× Manchester United ORG · 1× Matt Donohue PERSON · 1× Pro Ref ORG · 1×

Narrative

Matt Donohue, the video assistant referee (VAR) who allowed Erling Haaland’s winner in Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United, has not been selected to officiate at any of next weekend’s Premier League football fixtures.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-15
🔮 4‘Fake news’: South Korea’s manager Moreno dismisses AI coaching allegations - list 4 of 4‘This year I’d deserve it’: Lamine Yamal stakes Ballon d’Or claim The decision was taken by chief refereeing officer Howard Webb and the management team, with neither official expected to return to duty until at least after the international break. Haaland’s second-half strike was initially ruled out for offside before being awarded following a VAR review that determined the Norwegian striker was onside.

Claims (8 extracted, 1 hedged)

Matt Donohue, the video assistant referee (VAR) who allowed Erling Haaland’s winner in Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United, has not been selected to officiate at any of next weekend’s Premier League football fixtures. asserted
who → allow → fixtures
Assistant VAR Blake Antrobus has also not been given any assignment after the refereeing body Pro Ref acknowledged in a statement that VAR was wrong to allow Haaland’s decisive goal. asserted
VAR → give → goal
Recommended Stories list of 4 items- list 1 of 4North Korea thrash Bangladesh 10-0 in Asian Games women’s football - list 2 of 4Eto’o faces allegations of embezzlement in Cameroon FA presidency role - list 3 of asserted
Korea → thrash → role
4‘Fake news’: South Korea’s manager Moreno dismisses AI coaching allegations - list 4 of 4‘This year I’d deserve it’: Lamine Yamal stakes Ballon d’Or claim The decision was taken by chief refereeing officer Howard Webb and the management team, with neither official expected to return to duty until at least after the international break. Haaland’s second-half strike was initially ruled out for offside before being awarded following a VAR review that determined the Norwegian striker was onside. uncertain
striker → dismiss → review
However, the refereeing body later said the VAR had failed to take into account the impact of teammate Enzo Fernandez, who attempted to play the ball from an offside position. asserted
who → say → position
United, who are 13th in the English top flight following the defeat, are next in action when they play Brighton in the League Cup on Wednesday. asserted
they → follow → Wednesday
Their next Premier League game will be played at Fulham on Sunday. asserted
game → play → Sunday
City entertain Norwich City in the cup on Thursday, before hosting Sunderland on Sunday in the league, where they are level on points with leaders and defending champions Arsenal. asserted
they → entertain → leaders
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