Manchester United suffered yet another damaging defeat under Ruben Amorim as they fell 3-1 on the road at Brentford on Saturday.
The Red Devils fell 2-0 down in the first 20 minutes as Igor Thiago scored twice to put the Bees up early. Benjamin Šeško pulled a goal back for United on the half-hour mark, but it was not enough to secure a result as Bruno Fernandes missed a second-half penalty.
However, it did not finish without controversy. Just prior to Caoimhín Kelleher saving Fernandes’ spot-kick, there was a long VAR check for a possible red card to Brentford captain Nathan Collins, but he ultimately stayed on the pitch.
The Sporting News explains why Collins was spared an early shower and how VAR might have made a mistake that went against United.
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Why wasn’t Nathan Collins have been sent off by VAR vs. Man United?
It appears that VAR may have made a critical error in failing to issue Brentford defender Nathan Collins a red card in the second half of Saturday’s early kickoff against Manchester United.
In the 72nd minute, with Brentford leading 2-1, Collins fouled Bryan Mbeumo, leaving referee Craig Pawson no choice but to point to the penalty spot. It was an obvious decision, as Collins grabbed Mbeumo by the shoulder to keep him from reaching a cross from the right.
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Should Nathan Collins have been shown a red card for this last-man foul on Bryan Mbeumo? 👀
It led to a penalty, which Caoimhin Kelleher saved. pic.twitter.com/ZNY0REikUR
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 27, 2025
However, Pawson showed Collins only a yellow card for the foul, which VAR official Andy Madley went on to review for more than three minutes.
On review, it appeared that Collins committed a last-man foul right in front of goal. While there is no “double jeopardy” for fouls that occur in the penalty area when the defender makes a “genuine attempt at the ball,” this did not appear to fall under such protections. Collins did not make a play on the ball, instead dragging the attacker away from reaching the cross.
The Premier League Match Centre social media account claimed that Madley determined Mbeumo “was not in control of the ball” and therefore it did not qualify as a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
#BREMUN – 71’
The referee’s call of penalty was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Collins deemed to pulled Mbeumo back. VAR also checked the referee’s call of yellow card to Collins – and deemed that Mbeumo wasn’t in control of the ball.
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) September 27, 2025
What is the rule for denying goal scoring opportunity?
According to the current Laws of the Game:
A player, substitute or substituted player who commits any of the following offences is sent off:
- denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent whose overall movement is towards the offender’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick
However, the rule is far more complicated than that. Current Premier League guidance attempts to smooth out some of the gaps, but it is difficult to cover all the bases.
Of note, one of the Premier League guidelines states that a subjective part of the call is that denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity does not necessarily have to occur “when the attacking team gained possession.”
While this usually means it could happen with overall possession in question, it could also theoretically be applied on a player-by-player basis as well. Even though Bryan Mbeumo did not have possession, he was arriving to make a one-touch finish, which he very clearly would have had if he had been able to meet the cross without being impeded by Nathan Collins.
