The VAR referee for Manchester United’s victory over Wolves was dropped last season for a costly error.
United claimed an undeserved 1-0 victory over Wolves in a game overshadowed by a controversial VAR decision at the death.
Indeed, Raphaël Varane scored the only goal of the game as United edged past the Molineux club to claim a crucial three points in their Premier League opener.
Erik ten Hag had stressed the need for his side to “raise the bar” before kick-off but it was a tepid display from United in front of the Old Trafford faithful. Indeed, it took a good pass from Bruno Fernandes to cut through the Wolves defence and allow Aaron Wan-Bissaka to cross to Varane.
However, in injury time, debutant keeper Andre Onana flew out of his goal and wiped out Wolves’ Sasa Kalajdzic in the box while failing to claim the ball.
And Wolves manager Gary O’Neil was booked for his complaints but the VAR official, Michael Salisbury, chose to play on, to the dismay of pundits and fans alike. He didn’t even call referee Simon Hooper to the monitor.
It is not the first time Salisbury has been at the centre of a controversial decision, however.
Last season, back in April, the PGMOL dropped Salisbury from refereeing duties for a weekend of Premier League fixtures after an error in Brighton’s defeat to Tottenham.
Salisbury was the VAR official when Stuart Attwell missed a trip on Kaoru Mitoma in the box with the score at 1-1.
However, Salisbury failed to overturn Attwell’s on-field decision, leading to the PGMOL being forced to subsequently apologise and admit a mistake had been made.
