Manchester United booked a place into the fifth round of the FA Cup in controversial circumstances after a 2-1 win over Leicester City.. The Foxes scored the opening goal through Bobby De Cordova-Reid on the brink of half-time before Joshua Zirkzee had an instant impact off the bench. The Dutch striker only needed four minutes to score after replacing Kobbie Mainoo.. Harry Maguire then completed the second-half comeback with a goal in stoppage time. However, the imposing central defender appeared to be in an offside position when the free-kick was taken.. But the goal was allowed to stand with video assistant referee not in use for the third and fourth round of the FA Cup regardless of the location and teams competing. As a result, it could not intervene and so the goal was allowed to stand.. Former United interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy was left furious at the outcome and believes it was an easy decision. “We are not defeated in Fergie time, we are defeated in offside time,” he told ITV.. “This wasn’t necessary. VAR you have in a couple centimetres, a couple of inches, this was half a metre, clear in line. That was a hard one to take because the team deserves to draw in the end. Then extra time, stay in the game you, never know what happens. It was a very good team performance, started really well, pressing United. On the ball very stable.. “Deserved to go 1-0 up at half-time. Of course we know in the second half they’re going to put some pressure on us and some chances but not even that much. We deserved to go into extra time, go for the battle in extra time and maybe penalties. Decisions like these in our level are hard to swallow.”. United head coach Ruben Amorim meanwhile, also dismissed the notion of ‘Fergie-time’ after a disappointing performance. “We had to believe until the end but this game has nothing to do with the time of Fergie,” he said.. “I think the performance, we have to do so much better with the ball, without the ball. We didn’t have any energy in the beginning, especially in the first-half. Then in the second half we played a little bit better, with a little more speed, winning second balls. Then we managed to turn things around so it was a good result not a good performance.”. Get United transfer news and updates on WhatsApp!. Our team of Manchester United experts are on top of all the goings-on at Old Trafford for this week and beyond, and you can get the latest team news, injury updates, reaction and analysis along with inside information to your phone by joining our new free WhatsApp community. You can also join the 50,000 (and growing!) band of United fans who are following our WhatsApp Channel.. Sign up to our community here, and join our WhatsApp channel here.. –. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
