Man United's Martínez: Haaland goal decision an 'injustice' — SkimNews
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- Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday via Erling Haaland's second-half strike, despite playing more than half the match with 10 men after Phil Foden's early red card.
- Haaland's goal was initially ruled out for offside but awarded after a lengthy VAR check, with the Premier League Match Centre stating VAR determined Patrick Dorgu played Haaland onside and that Enzo Fernández — though in an offside position — didn't play the ball.
- Lisandro Martínez called the ruling 'an injustice,' telling Sky Sports that Fernández was attempting to play the ball in front of him — which is why Haaland was free at the back post — and added that recurring Premier League referee visits to United don't prevent 'five, six people' from making these mistakes.
- Michael Carrick said officials told him Fernández wasn't interfering with play, but called the decision 'as obvious as it gets' and questioned why so many layers of VAR review — 'so many bodies, so many screens' — still produced a clearly wrong call.
- Foden's red card forced City into a numerical disadvantage that should have shaped the derby outcome differently, instead becoming the backdrop to a winning goal the losing side insists should not have stood.
Why it matters: United lose a derby that both their manager and defender publicly contest as officiating failure, with Carrick calling the multi-layer VAR process broken and Martínez framing it as part of recurring inconsistency from officials who brief clubs on rules annually. City's ability to win with 10 men — having conceded the man-advantage scenario that should have favored United — compounds a defeat United are disputing not just on result but on process.
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