Howard Webb admits Matheus Cunha goal should not have stood for United

Howard Webb has admitted Nottingham Forest were on the wrong end of a refereeing error after Matheus Cunha's goal for Manchester United was allowed to stand. The key issue was Bryan Mbeumo's handball in the build-up, and the refereeing body contacted Forest on Monday to confirm there had been a misjudgement by Michael Salisbury. That matters more than the scoreline because this one is now being treated as a clear VAR mistake.

What the refereeing admission changes

The incident itself was straightforward enough. Mbeumo made arm contact in the move before Cunha fired past Matz Sels. The goal put United 2-0 up and the match finished 3-2.

Forest's anger always looked justified, and the admission from Monday settled the main argument around the decision. Webb apologised to Forest after the refereeing body confirmed the call was wrong.

Vitor Pereira did not hide his view after the game. Speaking to Manchester Evening News, he said: "For me, it was handball, very clear. It is sad not to cancel the goal. For me it was the decision that decided the game."

That last line should be read carefully. Forest are entitled to feel the moment changed the match, but it still does not prove the result would definitely have been different. What is clear from the sources is narrower and stronger: the goal should not have counted.

Morgan Gibbs-White made the same basic point to BBC Sport: "From the angle I was standing at, it looked like he caught the ball. Whether he scores or not, for me it was still a handball."

Why the on-field review drew so much scrutiny

This was not just another noisy weekend VAR debate. According to the brief, it was only the 17th time in seven seasons that a referee has rejected VAR advice at the screen, and only the fourth time this season. That is why Salisbury's decision stood out immediately.

There is a contested part to this. Webb said there could be justifiable reasons to judge it was not handball, so this was not presented as a completely lawless decision in real time. But that defence only goes so far once the same review ends with an apology and an admission of misjudgement.

Darren Cann put it more bluntly on BBC Sport: "While I think that it is commendable to see a referee stick with his original decision, I believe that football's expectation is Mbeumo controlling the ball, especially when it leads to a goal, outweighs the possible deflection off Mbeumo's hip. Mbeumo does control the ball [with his hand] and while he's not the scorer himself, football's expectation is for that to be disallowed."

That feels like the fairest reading of it. Referees are allowed to trust what they see, but once Mbeumo controls the ball with his hand and the move ends with a goal, the case for overturning it is stronger than the case for sticking.

Gary Neville called it "an absolute shocker in every single way" during the broadcast, and he was hardly alone. Even without the outrage, though, the more important part is the formal admission that Nottingham Forest should have had that goal ruled out.

What happens next for Forest and United

The result will stand, and so will Cunha's goal in the match record. That is usually where these stories become unsatisfying for the club on the wrong end of them.

Still, the bigger takeaway here is not confusion over the handball law in general. It is that this specific decision was reviewed, allowed, and then later admitted to be wrong. For Manchester United, the 3-2 win remains. For Forest, the apology changes none of the points but it does confirm they were right to complain about the Bryan Mbeumo handball before Matheus Cunha scored.