As expected on any other long-lasting derby rivalry yesterday’s game had chaos and suspense in it providing the thrills fans expected in the early minutes of the game City’s Phil Foden took matters into his own ‘legs’ as he reacted to Bruno Fernandez’s foul on him by kicking him close to the groin area. The referee didn’t hesitate as he awarded him with matching orders while handing out a straight red card. As the rules state, VAR intervened and confirmed the on-field decision to be accurate siting violent conduct in their official statement. Citing their conversation *** Incident - 23min Manchester City's Phil Foden's feet make contact with the stomach of Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes leading to a red card.
The Premier League Match Centre post said: "The referee’s call of red card to Foden for violent conduct was checked and confirmed by VAR.
"REF: 'Red card Phil Foden – kick out into the body of Bruno.'
"VAR: 'That looks like a clear red card to me. Looks to be a secondary movement. Confirming the red card for Manchester City No.47.'***
This decision was not well accepted by city fans as they felt that Bruno also deserved a card for his challenge on Foden. City were forced to continue the rest of the game with a man down. This gave united a chance to force their attacking dominance on Manchester city’s defence. Their defence coped up with the pressure while efforts from Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Maino saw the red devils almost taking the lead against their rivals but the crossbar came to the rescue.
In the 59th minute the major conspiracy that has had the footballing community have a loud conversation started as Erling Haaland's goal was allowed to stand after VAR overturned the on field Offside decision. As expected, every Manchester united fan was not happy with the decision.
Official premier league statement acknowledged the mistake made and offered their apologies to Michael Carrick but that’s all they can do since the goal was already allowed to stand and city got all the three points from the away game maintaining their 100% clean record of wins in the 2026/2027 premier league campaign with their new manager Enzo Maresca who won his first Manchester derby on his debut.
United kept fighting to keep their dreams of derby day win but Donnaruma's exceptional save and Marc Guehi's defensive materclass denied the red devils an equalizer and ultimately led to their second premier league loss of the season.
Clear frustration from both fans, players and Manchester united staff as they continue with a poor start in their premier league campaign for the season. Michael Carrick has only registered a single win out of their four games losing two and having a single draw. He is still optimistic that his boys will wake up and return to winning ways soon in an effort to try and achieve their title dreams.
This refereeing decision continue to raise to the other poor decisions that the premier league has produced from previous seasons and matches leading to errors in games and the results.
