The Chief of the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) Howard Webb, has expressed his support for VAR’s decision to disallow Alejandro Garnacho’s late goal during the Arsenal vs. Manchester United match, News About Nigeria reports.
Webb’s comments come in response to criticism from Man United’s manager, Erik ten Hag, who believed the goal should have stood.
Webb made these remarks during the first episode of “Match Officials: Mic’d Up” on Sky Sports, where he discussed key VAR calls for the season, with a particular focus on the contentious moments in Arsenal’s narrow victory over Manchester United.
One of the most debated incidents in the match was Garnacho’s disallowed goal in the 88th minute. Initially, it appeared that Garnacho had secured a dramatic late winner for Man United.
However, VAR replays revealed that he was marginally offside when he received the pass to score. Webb defended VAR’s decision, stating, “It’s a clear offside situation, the technology was used quite rightly from the calibrated cameras to identify Garnacho was ahead of Gabriel, and the goal was quite rightly disallowed after initially being awarded on the field.”
Additionally, Webb supported VAR’s ruling on Arsenal’s penalty claim. Kai Havertz went down in the box under a challenge from Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Casemiro, resulting in the referee awarding Arsenal a penalty.
However, VAR reviewed the incident and overturned the decision. Webb agreed with this outcome, explaining, “The video showed something quite different, that there’s no actual contact initially, another step by Havertz, whose leg goes into Wan-Bissaka.
“The VAR really calm and concise, recognizes all of that, thinks it’s a clear and obvious error, I agree. Recommends a review of the decision, and we get to the right decision.”
