Harry Maguire of Manchester United saved his team’s FA Cup defence at Old Trafford on Friday night by nodding the ball home in the 93rd minute. What caused the goal to be awarded even though the Englishman was offside?
Three minutes before halftime, Bobby Reid of Leicester City opened the score to end a slow first half of play. Ruben Amorim took pleasure in the final laugh, but Van Nistelrooy would have been the happier manager going into the half.
The main bone of concern is why an offside Maguire was permitted to whirl away in celebration after two substitutes, Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee, combined to give the home crowd a ray of hope in the 68th minute.
Under the brilliant lights of Old Trafford, neither team offered a spectacular performance, but Maguire gave the 74,310 spectators the moment of the day—a crucial victory that guaranteed them a spot in the fifth round.
Leicester’s high line failed when captain Bruno Fernandes hit a ball into a crowded 18-yard box. Mads Hermansen and Leicester’s line were separated by Maguire and a few of his teammates, who did not respond well to the free kick.
📸 – HARRY MAGUIRE WAS OFFSIDE BUT THERE IS NO VAR TO RULE THIS OFF! pic.twitter.com/e0oAXwOWPk
— TheEuropeanLad (@TheEuropeanLad) February 7, 2025
A sea of red shirts wandered up to the ecstatic fans in the corner after the linesman failed to flag for offside. VAR, which is frequently a referee’s saviour, was unable to intervene since the much-maligned technology is only utilised in the FA Cup, the oldest football competition in history, starting in the fifth round.
According to the official FA website, all parties agreed that VAR will only be used from the fifth round until the May 17, 2025, final at Wembley Stadium. It said:
Only the Fifth Round of the 2024–25 Emirates FA Cup will feature Video Assistant Referees (VAR). It has been decided that VAR will be used for all of the competition’s fifth-round matches up until the final at Wembley Stadium. The third and fourth rounds will not use it.
They went on to explain why, saying that because of the infrastructure, personnel, and expenses needed to run it, VAR has only ever been used in the Emirates FA Cup for games played at Wembley Stadium and Premier League venues. This choice guarantees that all clubs competing in the same level of the competition will be refereed using the same methodology.
As said, if the match took place in a Premier League stadium, VAR was used in the FA Cup’s third and fourth rounds. However, the rule was altered prior to this season, and Manchester United is the most recent recipient of this modification.
Amorim’s team will find out who they will play next on Monday, February 10th, after defeating Arsenal on penalties in the third round. The 20-time English champions will next go to the Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
