More VAR woes for Newcastle as they fall to defeat at Manchester City

For the second Saturday evening in a row, Newcastle United found themselves on the wrong end of some dubious officiating, as they fell to yet another defeat away to Manchester City.

With the absence of VAR, last week’s FA Cup victory away to Aston Villa was largely overshadowed by some appalling officiating.

And yesterday, with VAR used in the Premier League, the Etihad Stadium played host to yet more refereeing woes for The Magpies

‘The Push’

Just before half-time and trailing 2-1, Newcastle were awarded a free kick on the left of City’s 18-yard box.

Sandro Tonali’s pinpoint delivery was met by all 6ft 7 of Dan Burn, who powered a headed effort past Gianluca Donnarumma to bring the scores level.

Or so he thought.

The Blyth-born defender’s joy was short-lived, as he was adjudged to have strayed offside.

But replays showed that the only reason Burn was offside was that he had been pushed by City defender Ruben Dias.

What does the FA say?

In the day and age where VAR decisions can take forever and a day, the review and subsequent decision to disallow Burn’s goal were made relatively quickly.

The controversy surrounding the decision predictably led to debate on social media.

Not even a Newcastle fan, but that decision was shocking.

Rúben Dias clearly shoved Dan Burn with both hands, forcing him into an offside position. Burn scores, and the goal is ruled out because he’s “offside” after being pushed there?

How is that not a foul on Dias at the very… pic.twitter.com/xepYc8pLSL

— 'Tunde Paul (@TundePaul_1) February 21, 2026

To make matters worse for Newcastle fans, the FA’s offside rule doesn’t explicitly detail whether or not a player can be considered offside if they are pushed into an offside position.

Second yellow?

Shortly after the break, Big Dan Burn was on the wrong end of another refereeing decision, this one seemingly more egregious than the first.

A minute after picking up a yellow card, City midfielder Bernardo Silva barelled into the Geordie defender, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Bernardo commits this foul already on a yellow card… 🤨 pic.twitter.com/gw8Pdiq1tm

— EPL Bible (@EPLBible) February 21, 2026

With his back to the ball, which was heading towards Burn, The Portugese midfielder had his eyes fixed on the Newcastle defender the entire time, before jumping into him, making no attempt to play the ball.

A clear foul, and surely a second yellow card?

Fortunately for title-chasing Manchester City, the answer was no, and Silva stayed on the field to help City secure all three points.