Referees body admits 'error of judgment' after Haaland goal against Man United

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The governing body of Premier League referees admitted an “error of judgment” after Erling Haaland’s hotly contested goal settled the 199th Manchester derby on Sunday.

That will be of little comfort to Manchester United after a 1-0 defeat to 10-man Manchester City at Old Trafford.

United was enraged after VAR awarded Haaland his winning strike in the 60th minute.

At first, the goal was ruled out for offside, but after VAR review the onfield decision was overturned, sparking a roar of celebration from the away fans, including Oasis' Noel Gallagher.

United's players were incensed because City midfielder Enzo Fernandez was in an offside position during the buildup. The Premier League said the goal was allowed because, despite diving to head the ball, the Argentine did not get a touch before it reached Haaland at the far post.

However, soccer rules state a player is interfering with play when “clearly attempting to play a ball" or “challenging an opponent for the ball.”

The refereeing body that oversees Premier League matches, Pro Ref, said Sunday evening that the VAR “did not recognize the likely impact” of Fernandez’s position and “should have recommended an onfield review.”

Pro Ref said it had made contact with United to acknowledge an “error of judgment” relating to the winning goal.

United defender Lisandro Martinez, who was challenging Fernandez, had called the goal an “injustice” and coach Michael Carrick was also perplexed.

“I just don't get it, I really don't get it,” he said. “It’s worrying, it really is if that’s how the game is seen by those who are officiating."

Asked at the time if he thought he would get a better explanation from the referee's governing body or even an apology, Carrick said, “I look forward to that.”

While acknowledgement of the error came soon afterward, it was too late to prevent United falling to a second defeat of the season after four games.

City's fans may have felt justice was done after Phil Foden was sent off in the 23rd for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.

Foden and City's players remonstrated on the field and coach Enzo Maresca said Fernandes should also have been shown a red for the altercation.

With an extra man United hit the post either side of halftime - first from Marcus Rashford's long-range free kick and then Kobbie Mainoo's low shot from the edge of the area.

It was Maresca's first derby since taking over from Pep Guardiola at the end of last season and victory extended City's 100% start to the season. City moved level on points with defending champion Arsenal at the top of the standings.

“The red card changed the plan of the game, but credit to the players and their effort, spirit and togetherness was brilliant,” Maresca said. “It is already an abnormal situation when you are able to win a game with 10 players. It is fantastic. Then this game is a derby so it is even better.”

United is 13th in the standings with just one win from four games.

Carrick's team plays Brighton in the English League Cup on Wednesday, having been knocked out of the competition at the earliest stage against fourth division Grimsby last season. United plays winless Fulham next weekend before the international break.

“We haven’t got as many points as we would have liked at this point, for sure. There’s no getting away from that. But we don’t need a break or a restart. We’ve just got to move on and get winning again,” Carrick said.

Haaland's goal makes him the outright top scorer in the Manchester derby in the Premier League with nine.

He moved ahead of Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero, both on eight.

He has reached that total in eight games, compared to Rooney's 21 appearances and Aguero's 13.

It was Haaland's sixth goal of the season in all competitions.

“You can see he’s happy, not only today, even day by day in the training sessions,” Maresca said. "As much as we keep Erling happy, we are all happy. How do you say in English, ‘happy wife, happy life?’

“Happy Erling, happy life.”

City extended its record as the team to have won more games against United at Old Trafford in the Premier League than any other opponent, with 10 victories.

Liverpool is second with eight wins. Arsenal and Chelsea have six.

Coventry's nightmare start to the season continued with a 5-0 home loss to Brighton.

After running away at the top of the Championship last season it has been a rude awakening for Frank Lampard's team since its return to England's top flight.

Four straight defeats leaves Coventry rooted to the foot of the standings without a goal and a goal difference of minus 10.

Brighton led 1-0 at halftime through Charalampos Kostoulas before going on a scoring spree after the break with goals from Malick Yalcouye, Pascal Gross, Lewis Dunk and Yasin Ayari.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, left, Manchester City's goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, Manchester City's Ruben Dias celebrate after the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester, England, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Manchester City supporter Noel Gallagher in the waits stands after the English Premier League soccer match against Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday Sept. 13, 2026. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Manchester United's head coach Michael Carrick walks on the pitch at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester, England, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring his sides first goal during the English Premier League soccer match against Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday Sept. 13, 2026. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Enzo Fernandez, left, kicks the ball past Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez, right, during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester, England, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Manchester United's Kobbie Mainoo kicks the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester, England, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, right, challenges for the ball with Manchester United's Kobbie Mainoo during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester, England, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Coventry City's Jay Dasilva, centre right, and teammates applaud to fans after the English Premier League soccer match between Coventry City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Coventry, England, Sunday Sept. 13, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

Coventry City manager Frank Lampard, centre right, reacts during the English Premier League soccer match between Coventry City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Coventry, England, Sunday Sept. 13, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

Brighton and Hove Albion's Malick Yalcouye, left, celebrates with Pascal Gross after scoring their side's second goal of the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Coventry City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Coventry, England, Sunday Sept. 13, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

A federal immigration officer shot a Dominican man in the neck as he drove in a car with a 5-year-old boy Thursday afternoon, officials said.

An irate New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the shooting an outrage, and spent two hours Thursday night pressing President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to release the wounded man, and urging them to stop immigration enforcement operations in the city.

Meanwhile, Trump said Thursday that he will not order a resumption of military strikes on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the United States. Trump, while stumping for Republicans this week, has hinted that he was confident an endgame to the war could come in the days before or after the election, while also hinting that he remained open to resuming full-scale military operations against Iran.

Here's the latest:

The lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, say Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s intent to livestream the execution must be halted.

“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican.

Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan should face the death penalty, he said, “but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting.”

Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, said: “We can seek justice in this country without glorifying violence and turning an execution into a grotesque public spectacle.”

“Kids watch what our leaders do and say, is this kind of bloodshed really what we want them seeing?” she asked in a statement. “The Pentagon must revoke this decision immediately.”

Mullin said ICE agents weren’t aware the child was in the car at the time. But he said Belgal “was aware” and chose to evade officers.

He didn’t answer a question about how officers wouldn’t know that, saying only that it’s an investigation.

Mullin also revealed that the officers involved in the incident were wearing body cameras “and they were on.”

Mullin spent much of the news conference criticizing New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for resisting and denouncing ICE. An irate Mamdani on Thursday night called ICE “rotten to its core” and said he saw no justification for the shooting.

“Well, mayor, if you abolish ICE, who’s going to take criminals off the streets of your own town?” Mullin said Friday. “The mayor speaks with political tone. His words are dangerous and incite hostility. It doesn’t help.”

Marcos Charles, who heads Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enforcement removal and operations division, said ICE officials attempted to arrest the Dominican man, whom officials have identified as Oscar Belgal, and attempted to use their vehicles to block him in.

Speaking to reporters, Charles said Belgal “refused to exit his vehicle” and accelerated, smashing into two government vehicles and moving toward officers, which prompted officers to fire weapons.

Facing backlash after a federal immigration officer shot a Dominican man in the neck as he drove in a car with a 5-year-old boy in New York on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin doubled down on the Trump administration’s criticism of so-called sanctuary cities.

There’s no clear definition of sanctuary jurisdictions, but the term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Sanctuary politicians and cities “create an environment for criminal activity to thrive, not for the American citizens to be safe,” Mullin said in a news conference Friday.

For about nine decades, executions in the U.S. have been private affairs, often shrouded in secrecy. The stunning Pentagon announcement Thursday that the first military execution in more than 65 years will be livestreamed could change that.

Allowing the world to watch Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan face the firing squad in December would make it the first public execution since two hangings in the 1930s in Kentucky and Missouri drew crowds.

In 1936, a man who reportedly confessed to the rape and murder of a woman was hanged in front of thousands in Owensboro, Kentucky, while the following year, hundreds watched a man in Missouri be hanged.

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Trump said Thursday that he will not order a resumption of military strikes on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the United States.

Trump, while stumping for Republicans this week, has hinted that he was confident that an endgame to the war could come in the days before or after the election, while also hinting that he remained open to resuming full-scale military operations against Iran.

For weeks, Trump has been threatening that a post-midterm election escalation in the seven-month-old war remains a viable option, despite his initial promises to Americans of a military campaign that would last a matter of weeks.

But Trump in a social media post on Thursday said the U.S. “will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd.”

Trump added that his team has been “having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

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A federal immigration officer shot a Dominican man in the neck as he drove in a car with a 5-year-old boy Thursday afternoon, officials said. The Department of Homeland Security said it was seeking to arrest the man in a “targeted enforcement operation,” but protesters and local officials decried it as an example of the dangers of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

DHS said in a statement that it was seeking to arrest a “criminal illegal alien” with a grand larceny conviction and a history of other arrests. But an irate New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the shooting an outrage.

The mayor said he had spent two hours Thursday night pressing President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to release the wounded man, to no avail, and urging them to stop immigration enforcement operations in the city. He said that late Thursday night, federal authorities removed the man from the hospital and took him away.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, said in a statement that she had delivered a similar message to Trump and Mullin by phone.

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President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani talks during a news conference near the scene of a shooting on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)