Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has defended VAR officials following the controversial decision that allowed his side’s winning goal in Sunday’s 1-0 Premier League victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Erling Haaland scored the decisive goal in the 60th minute to help City maintain their perfect start to the Premier League season with four wins from four matches.
The goal, however, came under scrutiny after Haaland was initially flagged for offside. VAR overturned the decision after ruling that United defender Patrick Dorgu had played Haaland onside.
The officials failed to account for the position of Enzo Fernandez, who was clearly in an offside position and was deemed to be interfering with play.
Refereeing body Pro Ref later acknowledged an “error of judgment”, stating that the VAR official should have advised the referee to review the incident on the pitch.
Despite the criticism, Maresca expressed sympathy for the officials ahead of Thursday’s League Cup third-round fixture against Championship side Norwich.
“Sometimes they go for you, the decisions, sometimes they go against you,” he said. “But also it’s not easy, I think, for the VAR, for the people that are in front of the screen, and in 10 seconds, 20 seconds they have to make a decision.
“It’s not easy for them. Sometimes they make some mistakes. I make mistakes, players make mistakes, I think it’s part of our job.”
Maresca also voiced his frustration over the amount of attention being given to the controversial goal instead of his team’s overall performance.
City played with 10 men for much of the match after Phil Foden was sent off in the first half, yet still managed to secure the victory.
The Italian, who replaced Pep Guardiola as City manager in June, also referred to a previous controversial decision involving Manchester United from his time as Guardiola’s assistant during the 2022/23 season.
Bruno Fernandes scored in United’s 2-1 derby victory despite Marcus Rashford being in an offside position during the build-up.
Maresca said he was still waiting for an apology over that incident.
“Three years ago, when I was here, it happened exactly the same against Man United,” said the former Chelsea boss.
“We lost the derby there. The goal was not a regular goal, if you remember. To be honest, no one apologised. We are still waiting for the apology for that goal.
“Sometimes it happens for you, sometimes it happens against you. It’s football.”
Maresca was also asked whether he was pleased that VAR would not be used during the early rounds of the League Cup, but he redirected attention to City’s performance against United.
“I’m pleased with the unbelievable performance from the players on Sunday,” he said. “I’m very pleased with that. Talking about one moment after that game, when we played for 70-75 minutes with 10 players, I think it’s quite poor. I think the performance was unbelievable.”
Source: AFP
