Rasmus Hojlund, a striker for Manchester United, was denied his first club goal against Brighton and Hove Albion due to a close VAR call.

Mike Dean, a former Premier League official, claims that VAR correctly overturned Rasmus Hojlund’s goal for Manchester United even though the assistant ‘understandably’ missed it.

In the early going, United played well against Brighton & Hove Albion, but against the flow of play, they fell behind. Danny Welbeck was able to tap home from six yards to avenge his former club because of a brief break in focus.

Marcus Rashford’s crossbar strike nearly brought the Reds even after they managed to regroup. United kept up the pressure and felt they were even just before halftime.

Through a deft play, Rashford was able to reach the byline before pulling the ball back to Hojlund, who scored. VAR was determining whether the Reds’ winger had taken the ball out of play before crossing as the Dane celebrated.

To the disappointment of both the crowd and the players, the decision was made to rule out the goal after some consideration. Dean, though, asserted that he thought Stockley Park’s officials made the right choice during an interview with Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday.

Out of play and in play is [a simple decision], but it is very, very close, so I can see why the assistant referee hasn’t seen it, the man said. Although there were numerous freeze frames moving forward and backward, the VAR made the right choice because the ball had just been sent out.

The second half would only get worse as Brighton extended their lead less than 10 minutes after the break. The Reds had a mountain to climb after Pascal Gross’ goal, and things only got worse when Joao Pedro added a second with 20 minutes remaining before Hannibal Mejbri scored to make matters worse.