{"id":477663,"date":"2026-03-15T22:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/477663\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T22:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:57:11","slug":"mark-clattenburg-gives-verdict-on-impossible-var-decision-that-went-against-man-utd-vs-aston-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/477663\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Clattenburg gives verdict on ‘impossible’ VAR decision that went against Man Utd vs Aston Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

Manchester United claimed a priceless three points against Aston Villa but Michael Carrick\u2019s players were made to work hard for the result.<\/p>\n

A dominant second-half performance gave Manchester United a 3-1 win over Aston Villa<\/a> at Old Trafford with Casemiro, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko all on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n

The teams went into the half-time break level, and United then took the lead through Casemiro\u2019s seventh goal of the season<\/a>. But Ross Barkley drew Villa level through a left-footed strike.<\/p>\n

The goal was subject to a lengthy VAR<\/a> check with officials at Stockley Park checking whether or not the strike hit Amadou Onana, who was in an offside position.<\/p>\n

\"ManchesterPhoto by Simon Stacpoole\/Offside\/Offside via Getty Images Do you agree with our top player ratings vs Aston Villa? <\/p>\n

What would YOU change?<\/p>\n

\"Player <\/p>\n

There was no debate whether or not Onana was in an offside position, but it was up to VAR to decide whether or not he touched the ball, interfered with play, or blocked the goalkeeper\u2019s line of vision.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to United in Focus, former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg<\/a> said: \u201cWe have seen so many times that the Premier League has different interpretations to the laws of the game. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Ross Barkley strikes the ball, Onana is in an offside position. If Onana touches the ball, then the decision is simple \u2013 it\u2019s offside. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, he does not touch the ball, so does Onana affect the goalkeeper\u2019s ability to play the ball or line of vision? I do not believe he does, so the goal was correctly given.<\/p>\n

What is your IMMEDIATE reaction as United beat Villa? <\/p>\n

Is Champions League football all but guaranteed?<\/p>\n

\"\"Getty Images <\/p>\n

Speaking on Sky Sports commentary<\/a>, United legend Gary Neville agreed that the right decision was made, adding that it was \u201cimpossible\u201d to tell whether or not Onana had touched the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cHas it hit his back, has it flicked him? How can you see? It\u2019s impossible to tell whether that hits Onana or not really. It\u2019s very close to him, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can not be sure that the ball has hit Onana. Only he would know and he is unlikely to admit it. Oh, has he just said it did?\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Man Utd player ratings vs Aston Villa, 9\/10 Fernandes is a force of nature but his teammate is a titan<\/a><\/p>\n

Via X<\/a>, the Premier League issued a statement on the decision via the Match Centre. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe referee\u2019s call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR \u2013 with Onana in offside position, but not deemed to be in the goalkeeper\u2019s line of vision or to have touched the ball,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

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Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google Manchester United claimed a priceless three points against Aston Villa but Michael…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,36390,221,101,56,54,55,50535],"class_list":["post-477663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-mark-clattenburg","tag-premier-league","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-var"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}