When Erling Haaland found the back of the net in the 60th minute of the Manchester derby, referee Michael Oliver immediately blew his whistle, signaling an on-field decision of offside.
What followed at Stockley Park was an exhaustive, multi-layered technological and human verification process that ultimately overturned the initial verdict and allowed the goal to stand sparking intense division and a subsequent refereeing admission of error.
Based on insights from former Premier League referee Graham Scott who spoke to The Athletic, the behind-the-scenes VAR sequence unpacks exactly how the decision unfolded, step by step.
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Initiating the Check and the Attacking Phase
Once Oliver waved off the goal, Video Assistant Referee Matt Donohue immediately informed the referee over the comms that he was checking the on-field decision.
Donohue instructed his replay operator—provided by Hawk-Eye—to roll back the footage to the start of the Attacking Possession Phase (APP), pinpointing the moment Antoine Semenyo broke into the penalty area.
Because broadcast angles frequently create a deceptive optical illusion known as the 'parallax effect', making tight offside calls look definitively off to fans and pundits alike, Donohue knew standard television cameras could not be trusted for a final verdict.
He immediately turned his attention to the Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) system managed by Genius Sports staff stationed in the adjacent hub.
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Deploying Semi-Automated Offside Technology
Operating through an AI-powered program, SAOT cross-references data captured by dozens of stadium cameras tracking thousands of surface data points per player every second.
The Genius Sports operators quickly communicated to Donohue that while the margin was tight, Haaland was factually onside. However, VAR protocols dictate that officials cannot blindly trust automated readouts; Donohue had to interrogate the data points:
Checking the Kick Point: Donohue verified the exact frame when Josko Gvardiol’s boot first struck the ball for the cross, ensuring the AI had not selected a fractionally incorrect frame.
Confirming Player Identities: The VAR screen displayed avatars with specific player codes, tagging Gvardiol as the last passer, a Manchester United defender as the second rearmost defender setting the offside line, and Haaland as the intended attacker.
Donohue had to manually confirm these selections to prevent AI glitches in crowded penalty boxes.
Evaluating Tolerances: The system measured whether the attacker's position fell within the Premier League’s five-centimetre tolerance threshold used to afford the benefit of the doubt to the attacking side.
Convinced by the automated mesh-tracking and 3D renders that Haaland had timed his run legally, Donohue relayed to Oliver 80 seconds after the ball hit the net that the goal was onside.
Did Enzo Fernandez Interfere With Play?
While Donohue successfully resolved the geometrical offside question regarding Haaland, his tunnel vision on that single aspect caused him to skip a crucial interpretive phase of the law.
In the build-up, Enzo Fernandez was clearly in an offside position when Gvardiol delivered the cross.
Donohue briefly checked whether Fernandez had made physical contact with the ball, which would have rendered him actively offside. and correctly noted no touch occurred.
However, the VAR completely failed to evaluate whether Fernandez’s movement constituted an offside offense by actively impeding Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez and the goalkeeper’s ability to defend the cross.
Under the laws of the game, interfering with an opponent's line of sight or ability to play the ball is an offense regardless of a touch. Because Donohue became overly consumed with verifying Haaland's physical position, this interpretive check was rushed and ultimately omitted.
Has the Offside Rule Become too Complicated
Stockley Park is built with safety nets to catch precisely these kinds of errors. An assistant referee sits alongside the VAR specifically to challenge flawed processes, and independent Pro Ref managers monitor matches from a control room with a direct hotline to intervene on palpably incorrect calls. Yet, in this instance, every layer of human oversight failed to catch the omission.
The incident highlights a broader systemic issue in modern football: as officiating relies more heavily on multi-million-pound technology operated across tech companies and match officials, the sheer complexity of the laws leaves widening cracks for officials to fall through.
Haaland's goal stands in the history books, but the debate over human error in automated systems will echo long after the final whistle.
