A furious Ruud van Nistelrooy said Leicester were not defeated “in Fergie time” but “in offside time” after Harry Maguire’s 93rd-minute winner for Manchester United was ruled legal and eliminated his side from the FA Cup. With no video assistant referee in the competition until the next round, Maguire’s winner was not chalked off despite the assistant referee being perfectly in line to see he had infringed.
“We are not defeated in Fergie time, we are defeated in offside time,” said Van Nistelrooy, referring to the extra minutes opponents claimed were allocated to United when needed under Sir Alex Ferguson, the Dutchman’s manager at Old Trafford. “It is a hard one to take because the game was decided on a mistake, that is clear. It is not a matter of VAR, where you have to look at millimetres. It is half a metre, it is clear. The team didn’t deserve to lose the game in this way. They fought, played well, and dominated the game for a long bit.”
