“I know I scored the most beautiful header goal of the season but that guy was our best player today and he deserve app the praise and not me”: Manchester United’s defender Harry Maguire has named ONE teammate who truly deserved Man of the Match award against Leicester City
Harry Maguire scored an injury-time winner against former club Leicester as holders Manchester United came from behind to win 2-1 and advance to the FA Cup fifth round.
It appeared the defender was in an offside position as Bruno Fernandes swung in the free-kick that he headed past Mads Hermansen, but with no VAR in action at this stage of the competition, the goal was awarded.
United, – who have reached the last two finals, advanced past the fourth round for the 10th time in 11 seasons.
There was hope inside Old Trafford that, against a team with eight Premier League defeats in their last nine games, United would not struggle as they had done so often on home soil recently.
It did not take long for that to evaporate, though. First the volume of the crowd quietened, then came the groans when the ball was played backwards, and the frustration at the lack of intensity and creativity. The hosts lacked drive, played at walking pace at times and looked devoid of ideas.
Leicester took full advantage of that just before the break. Bilal El Khannouss was allowed time and space to skip past Leny Yoro and pull the ball back for the unmarked Wilfred Ndidi, whose shot was saved by Andre Onana, only for the ball to ricochet off Bobby De Cordova-Reid and over the line.
Patrick Dorgu – lively on his debut – was replaced by Alejandro Garnacho at half-time as Ruben Amorim looked to inject fresh life into his team, but it was more than an hour before they posted their first shot on target of the night.
When it did come, only an incredible last-ditch clearance from Caleb Okoli – which hit the crossbar before being hooked away – stopped Garnacho’s shot from crossing the line.
United’s momentum continued to rise, though, and they restored parity inside three minutes. Garnacho’s cross found Rasmus Hojlund, whose connection was blocked by Wout Faes. But the ball fell perfectly for Zirkzee, who side-footed his first goal since December 19 into the empty net.
From there, it seemed as though extra-time was more likely than either side finding a winner.
But in the final seconds of second half stoppage-time, Maguire connected with Fernandes’ wonderful delivery to get United out of jail.
