Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has responded to the controversy surrounding Erling Haaland’s winning goal against Manchester United by reminding his former club of a similar incident that went against Manchester City three years ago.
Haaland scored the decisive goal in City’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, but the strike immediately became the centre of attention after questions were raised about the offside decision.
The Norwegian was initially flagged offside, but VAR overturned the decision after determining that he was played onside by United defender Patrick Dorgu. However, the review failed to properly account for the position of Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position and was judged to be interfering with play.
The refereeing body Pro Ref later acknowledged an error of judgement and said the VAR should have recommended an on-field review.
Maresca says decisions can go both ways
Speaking at his press conference, Maresca defended the officials while also acknowledging that his team benefited from the controversial decision.
The Manchester City boss argued that refereeing mistakes are part of football and pointed out that managers, players and officials can all make errors during matches.
“I think sometimes the referee’s decisions benefit you, and sometimes they harm you.”
Maresca then brought up an incident from the 2022/23 season, when he was working as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City.
‘We are still waiting for an apology’
During that Manchester derby, Bruno Fernandes scored for Manchester United despite Marcus Rashford being in an offside position and involved in the build-up. United eventually won the match 2-1.
Maresca clearly remembers the incident and used it to highlight what he sees as the unpredictable nature of refereeing decisions.
“Three years ago when I was here, exactly the same thing happened against Manchester United. We lost the derby, the goal was actually invalid, if you remember.”
He then added with a smile:
“And to be honest, no one apologized. We are still waiting for an apology about that goal.”
His comments added another layer to the debate surrounding Haaland’s goal, particularly because the latest incident again involved an offside player and a controversial VAR decision.
Maresca refuses to let VAR overshadow City’s victory
Despite acknowledging the controversy, Maresca insisted that he was more interested in his team’s overall performance.
City were forced to play with 10 men for a large part of the match after Phil Foden was sent off, yet they still managed to leave Old Trafford with all three points.
Maresca said the focus should therefore not be entirely on one controversial moment.
He described City’s performance as “unbelievable” and expressed frustration that so much attention had been placed on the VAR decision rather than the way his players performed after going down to 10 men.
A familiar Manchester derby debate
The latest controversy has once again placed VAR and refereeing decisions at the centre of the Manchester derby.
For Maresca, however, the situation is a reminder that decisions can benefit one team on one occasion and hurt another on a different day.
His message was clear: mistakes happen in football, and while Manchester City benefited from the decision this time, he still remembers when a similar call went against his team.
And, judging by his comments, Maresca is still waiting for that apology from three years ago. 😁
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