Harry Maguire sends Man Utd into fifth spherical with purpose that should not have stood

Manchester United are into the fifth round of the FA Cup, but they did so with a controversial winner courtesy of Harry Maguire at Old Trafford on Friday evening

Manchester United were seconds away from facing extra-time in their fourth round FA Cup clash with Leicester City.

With the clock ticking over into added time, United had a free-kick in Leicester’s half. Harry Maguire was stood in an offside position and the Leicester defence were happy to leave him there.

However, when the ball was whipped in and Maguire nodded home, Leicester players were left furious when the offside flag wasn’t raised. “Biggest level of football and you don’t call offside. You don’t even need VAR for this,” one fan fumed.

“Lino’s had an absolute stinker here. He was offside for ages before the ball was even kicked and didn’t move; Leicester fans must be steaming,” a second said. While a third posted: “I’m sorry Man Utd have got away with murder here!”

And another added: “Maguire blatantly offside and his goal isn’t ruled out. Poor officiating or blame it on no VAR?”

There is no VAR at this stage of the FA Cup, meaning Maguire’s goal stood without a review.

“A great finish to the game. The second half we played a lot better. The first-half was nowhere near good enough, we played at a slow tempo and we didn’t really get going. We probably deserved to go into half-time losing,” Maguire said.

“He made a big impact,” he added speaking about Alejandro Garnacho. “He always does that when he comes off the bench, so credit to him, he’s ready, he’s focused.

“We knew at half-time he’d bring a little more direct and pace into the team. But Joshua Zirkzee also came on and I thought he made a big difference.”