Jonny Evans thought he had scored his first Manchester United goal in over nine years on Saturday, only for it to be ruled out after a VAR review.
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Evans scored headerGoal ruled out for offsideMan Utd fans raged at VARWHAT HAPPENED?
Evans got on the end of a corner and headed it beyond Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford to break the deadlock. The defender's celebrations were cut short though, as VAR intervened.
The goal was not allowed to stand because a VAR review revealed that striker Rasmus Hojlund was in an offside position and interfering with play. The Denmark international was in Trafford's way and prevented him from getting to the ball.
The officials' decision will also come as a big blow to Evans, who last scored for United in January 2014 in an EFL Cup clash against Sunderland. The game against Burnley is the first that Evans has started for United since 2015.
Evans did go on to provide an assist for Bruno Fernandes just before half-time, however.
AdvertisementGettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE
The goal being chalked off infuriated Red Devils fans, who pointed out that Manchester City scored a similar goal against Fulham earlier in September that was allowed to stand.
Howard Webb, chief refereeing officer at Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, later admitted that Nathan Ake's goal should not have been allowed to stand because Manuel Akanji was blocking the Fulham goalkeeper.
He said on : “From the outset, I want to say this should have been disallowed. These are not always easy to call because you are trying to get two pieces of information together. Is the player in an offside position, which official is in a good position to see, and what consequence was there of the player being in that position and how it impacts the opponents?
“It certainly appears that Akanji has an impact on Bernd Leno, the goalkeeper seems to hesitate. The officials on the field gave the goal, they did not see the obvious action that impacted Leno’s ability to play the ball. They did not feel it was clearly impactful on Leno’s ability to play the ball but when you see it, you can see that hesitation by the goalkeeper who was waiting to see whether the ball made contact with Akanji, which would have deflected the ball."
WHAT THEY SAID
United fans expressed their anger on social media, with some going as far as to hint at a conspiracy against their team.
GettyWHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
After the Burnley clash, United will turn their attention to the Carabao Cup match against Crystal Palace on Tuesday.