Ruud van Nistelrooy experienced a bitter return to Old Trafford on Friday. With Leicester, the Dutchman lost through an injury time goal that shouldn’t have counted.
Manchester United fans will have been reminded of the glory days under Sir Alex Ferguson on Friday night. In the FA Cup tie against Leicester, Harry Maguire headed the Red Devils into the next round in “Fergie Time”, the extra time (90.+3). However, the goal should not have counted: the center-back was offside when Bruno Fernandes crossed for the free-kick.
But since there is no VAR in the fourth round of the competition, Manchester celebrated the last-minute win – and former Red Devil and current Leicester coach Ruud van Nistelrooy got to feel the other side of “Fergie time”. “We weren’t beaten in ‘Fergie time’. We were beaten in ‘offside time,” the Dutchman made clear in an interview with ITV Sport.
He was particularly annoyed by the clarity of the decision. With the VAR, offside is judged to within a millimeter, while Maguire was offside by “half a meter”. This is difficult to accept. “The team doesn’t deserve to lose the game this way because they fought and played well. There’s nothing we can do about it now, so we’ll just have to live with it. We’re all human and we all make mistakes, but at this level it’s just not good enough,” said van Nistelrooy.
He didn’t want to say anything more about the incident. His successor Ruben Amorim was quick to jump to his defense. ”The VAR should be there. It should have been there to reverse the decision. It’s hard for Ruud, it’s hard for the opponent,” the Portuguese explained. Amorim will not have to make a statement like that again in the FA Cup this season, because the VAR will be available from the fifth round onwards. The opponents United will face in the fifth round will be drawn on Monday.
