Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy insisted his side were beaten in ‘offside time, not Fergie time’ after Harry Maguire scored a controversial winner for Man United in the FA Cup fourth round.
The Foxes appeared to have done enough to force extra time at Old Trafford having gone ahead through Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s first half header, before being pegged back by Joshua Zirkzee’s close range strike.
Maguire denied his former side in the final minute of stoppage time with the Man United defender heading in Bruno Fernandes free kick.
Replays revealed Maguire had been in an offside position from the free kick, but was not judged offside by the linesman.
With VAR not in operation in this round of the FA Cup, Maguire’s goal was allowed to stand and sent Man United through to the fourth round.
When asked by ITV about losing in ‘Fergie Time’ – the phrased coined for late goals scored under Van Nistelrooy’s former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson – the Dutchman pointed to the controversial decision.
Harry Maguire scored a controversial stoppage time winner against Leicester in the FA Cup
Maguire was seen in an offside position when the free kick was played in for his winning goal
Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy claimed his side had been beaten in ‘offside time’
‘We were not defeated in Fergie time, in offside time,’ Van Nistelrooy replied.
‘[With] VAR you have a couple of centimetres, this was half a metre, it is a hard one to take.
‘The team deserved the draw and extra time, you never know what happens, it was a very good term performance.
‘We were very stable on the ball, deserved to go 1-0 up and know how the second half will go but not that much, we deserved to go into extra time but decisions like these at our level are hard to swallow.’
