Maresca's Frustration Over VAR Controversy in Manchester Derby
Enzo Maresca did not hide his irritation. Not at Erling Haaland. Not at the officials. At the conversation.
Days after Manchester City’s 1-0 derby win at Old Trafford, the debate still circles around a single frame of VAR footage. Maresca cannot quite believe it.
“Talking about one episode or one moment after that game when we played for 70-75 minutes with 10 players, I think it's quite poor,” the City manager said ahead of Thursday’s Carabao Cup third-round tie against Norwich City. “I think the performance was unbelievable, and I'm pleased with the performance.”
A derby decided – and then dissected
Haaland’s strike on the hour settled the derby and delivered City a fourth successive Premier League victory. It should have been the headline: 10-man City, away at Manchester United, finding a way again.
Instead, the focus snapped straight to the technology.
On the pitch, the assistant’s flag went up. Offside. Brief relief for United. Then came the familiar pause, the geometric lines, the scrutiny. VAR ruled that Haaland was just onside and the goal stood.
The game moved on. The story did not.
Soon after, the Premier League’s refereeing body confirmed what many had already suspected: the officials had missed an earlier offside offence by Enzo Fernandez, who had dived at the ball in a central area and interfered with opponents. The goal should not have stood.
The admission lit the fuse. Talk shows, phone-ins, social media – all of it revolving around one call.
Maresca, though, sees a much bigger picture.
“There is knowledge that there was a mistake and that's all. Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes against you. It's football,” the Italian said, refusing to let the controversy eclipse his team’s resilience with 10 men.
Old grievances at Old Trafford
Maresca’s frustration does not exist in a vacuum. It is rooted in memory.
He was on the City bench in January 2023 as Pep Guardiola’s assistant when another VAR storm swirled around a Manchester derby at Old Trafford. This time City felt they were on the wrong end of the decision in a 2-1 defeat.
“Three years ago when I was here [as Guardiola's assistant], it happened the exact same against United,” he recalled. “The goal was not a regular goal and no one apologised. We are still waiting for the apology for that.”
The implication is clear: City have lived both sides of VAR chaos. They did not receive an apology then, and Maresca is in no mood to apologise now for taking three points.
For him, the narrative imbalance is glaring. When decisions cut against City, the noise dies down quickly. When one goes their way, it becomes the story of the week.
Webb’s verdict and a bruised refereeing body
Inside the refereeing structure, there is no attempt to gloss over the mistake.
Howard Webb, head of the Premier League’s refereeing body Pro Ref, addressed the incident on ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ and laid out the failure.
He confirmed that VAR had not properly considered whether Fernandez was offside before Haaland converted, a fundamental breakdown in the process on a match of huge magnitude.
“I was really disappointed with this outcome. We all are,” Webb said. “None more so than the officials themselves. They take a lot of personal pride in what they do and they're obviously hurting now, having fallen short in this situation.”
The words underline how far VAR still is from the clean, clinical solution it was sold as. The technology is there; the human element remains fraught.
City move on, the debate does not
Inside the City camp, the derby has already been filed under “job done”. A fourth straight league win, a statement of control at Old Trafford, and a team that managed a hostile occasion with a man down for most of the afternoon.
Outside, the arguments keep spinning around lines, freeze-frames and what-ifs.
Maresca, now tasked with maintaining Guardiola-level standards while steering through the same old VAR storms, has made his stance plain: judge his team on 70-75 minutes of graft and quality, not on a single decision.
The season will not be defined by one wrongly awarded goal in a derby. But the way the game talks about that goal – and the way managers like Maresca push back – might yet shape how English football lives with VAR in the months ahead.
