Manchester City coach Maresca backs VAR referees after derby error
Manchester City head coach Enzo Maresca backed VAR officials after his team benefited from an error in the match against Manchester United at Old Trafford in Manchester, England. City won the derby 1-0, with Erling Haaland scoring the only goal in the 60th minute.
As Asharq Al-Awsat reports, Haaland was initially flagged offside. However, VAR determined that United defender Patrick Dorgu was playing the striker onside, failing to take into account the position of Enzo Fernandez, who was offside and interfering with the play.
VAR error
Pro Ref, the organization responsible for officiating, acknowledged an error in assessing the incident. It said the video assistant referee should have recommended that the main referee review the moment on the pitch.
Before the third-round English League Cup match against Norwich, Maresca noted that refereeing decisions sometimes work in a team's favor and sometimes against it. According to him, it is not easy for VAR staff to make decisions within 10–20 seconds, and mistakes are part of the job, made by coaches and footballers as well.
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Reference to the previous derby
The Italian specialist expressed dissatisfaction that, after the victory, the main attention was focused specifically on the goal incident. He recalled that Manchester City played 70–75 minutes of the match with 10 men after Phil Foden was sent off in the first half.
Maresca also mentioned a match from the 2022/23 season, when he worked as Pep Guardiola's assistant. Manchester United then beat City 2-1 at Old Trafford, and Bruno Fernandes' goal was allowed despite Marcus Rashford being in an offside position. The coach said the team is still waiting for an apology for that incident.
VAR is not used in the early rounds of the League Cup. Maresca did not focus on this and again praised the performance of his players in Sunday's derby.
