Howard Webb admits Manchester City’s Matteo Kovacic was ‘extremely fortunate’ to escape red card against Arsenal

Matteo Kovacic was “extremely fortunate” to evade a red card in Manchester City’s defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, according to Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) chief Howard Webb.

The Brazilian’s goal overshadowed the first-half incident which saw Man City midfielder Kovacic booked for a challenge on Gunners captain Martin Odegaard.

The video assistant referee (VAR) checked the foul for serious foul play with a view to upgrading the yellow card to a red, but the on-field decision was not deemed a “clear and obvious error” by referee Michael Oliver, therefore he was not sent to the pitchside monitor.

However, in the second episode of ‘Match Officials Mic’d: Up’ which aired on TNT Sports on Tuesday, Webb explained why the Croatian was lucky to stay on the pitch.

Some have pointed out that Chelsea’s Malo Gusto was sent off during their defeat at Aston Villa with a similar challenge.

“We want to be as consistent as we can be throughout every game among our group, dealing with the same situations in the same way each week,” the former Premier League referee explained to Michael Owen. “But, of course, all situations vary slightly, we accept and understand this.

“This is clearly a poor tackle. I’m pretty confident, that had a red card been given by Michael Oliver on the day, it would have been a very straightforward check complete. But he doesn’t, he issues a yellow card.

“I think there’s a few differences [from the Gusto red], the player Kovacic comes into the tackle with the right leg, there’s some weight with the left leg as he lunges in.

“The right heel hits the ground and the contact is a little bit more to the side with a kind of an upright foot as opposed to a side on foot as we saw with Gusto.

“A few small differences that led the VAR to feel the on-field decision here of yellow card wasn’t clearly and obviously incorrect.”

Later in the first half, Kovacic made a similar challenge, this time on Declan Rice, but avoided a second booking.

The VAR could not get involved in the particular incident.

However, in what could have been a huge turning point in the game between the two teams that fought for the title last campaign, Webb feels Kovacic could have been dismissed but defended Oliver who did not want to “have a negative impact on the game by overreacting.”

“I think he was an extremely fortunate player to stay on the field of play,” he admitted. “The referee, one of our best referees and one of the best in the world will no doubt review that.

“He doesn’t want to have a negative impact on the game by overreacting to something and sometimes players will be on a yellow card and then there will be pressure to show a second one. Pressure will come from the players on the field.

“But it’s also true that if you under-react you have a negative impact on the game. I think when you reflect on it, he’ll realise the second one should have been a yellow card as well, which would have seen Kovacic sent off, having been on the benefit of this particular decision which was borderline.”

Diaz had a goal chalked out for offside, despite the Colombian being clearly onside when he raced onto Mohamed Salah’s through ball.

“No, he wasn’t [aware of the incident],” Webb insisted. “I know people talked about the expression on his face. He didn’t know at all until the end of the game.

“I think it’s better that you don’t know, you want to stay focused in the moment, you don’t want this in your mind when you try and make decisions throughout the rest of the game. It’s better that he doesn’t know, and in this case, he certainly didn’t and nor did the on-field officials.”

On why the game couldn’t be stopped after VAR had released an error had been made but the game had restarted, Webb explained: “I understand why people ask that question, and actually the VAR and assistant VAR asked themselves that question too.

“When the penny dropped as to what had happened, I think 20 seconds had passed, and at that point, they considered whether or not they could intervene to stop the game, but they recognised that the laws of the game set by FIFA and the International FA board don’t allow that.

“There’s a process in place that sits in the laws of the game about how we use VAR to make sure it’s delivered consistently throughout every league in the world, and it doesn’t allow you to go back in those circumstances.”