Ruud van Nistelrooy left stunned by linesman’s mistake in match against Manchester United

Leicester City manager Ruud van Nistelrooy (48) was left fuming after their FA Cup exit at the hands of Manchester United, largely due to a significant blunder by the linesman in the dying moments of the match.

Bobby De Cordova-Reid had given Leicester the lead at half-time, but Josh Zirkzee equalised for United in the 68th minute. Harry Maguire then nodded in the winning goal during injury time, prompting Leicester to contest the validity of the goal due to an offside call.

Van Nistelrooy expressed his frustration afterwards, stating, “We’re not beaten in Fergie time; we have been beaten in offside time.”

“This didn’t need to happen. With VAR, they typically go by a few centimetres or inches, but this was half a metre, clearly onside. It’s frustrating because the team deserved at least a draw. Then we could have headed into extra time and anything can happen there.”

“It was an excellent team display; we started strong, applying pressure on United and maintaining our composure on the ball. We rightly went 1-0 up at the break. Naturally, we expected them to apply pressure in the second half, but their chances were limited.”

“We deserved to reach extra time, where we could have fought it out and perhaps faced penalties.”

“Decisions like this at our level are extremely hard to accept.”