For swathes of the last six years, Leicester City could savour the thought of Harry Maguire and Manchester United. Not here, however, and not in injury time. Leicester were left with a sense of injustice, cursing the goal scored by the man they sold for a world-record fee for a centre-back. Maguire’s Old Trafford career has not always proceeded swimmingly, but on a night when they looked like drowning in their own incompetence, he instead turned rescuer.
A 93rd-minute header took the holders into the FA Cup fifth round in dramatic fashion; controversial, too, given that Maguire – and three of his teammates – had looked suspiciously offside when he ran on to Bruno Fernandes’s deep free-kick to plant an emphatic header in. Amid scenes of bedlam, with no VAR to spare Leicester, United’s act of escapology was complete. “We were not defeated in Fergie time, we were defeated in offside time,” said Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy. “This was half a metre, clear in line. It is decided on a clear and obvious mistake, that is unacceptable and unthinkable at this level.”
