Manchester United escape with draw after VAR thwarts Leicester’s Maddison

Three points were required and only one was claimed by Manchester United whose prospects of Champions League qualification are distant following this outing. Ralf Rangnick’s side are sixth, a win behind Arsenal, who have played two games fewer.

It could have been worse. With 10 minutes left Raphaël Varane got himself into a pickle, Kelechi Iheanacho burgled him and passed to James Maddison who finished to make it 2-1.

But Andre Marriner, on a VAR touchline review, deemed Iheanacho impeded Varane and it was chalked off. Though United rallied from here – Jadon Sancho missed a golden late chance – their campaign’s end is proving as dismal as what came before.

Rangnick wanted the last two and a half weeks since United’s previous action – being dumped out of the Champions League by Atlético Madrid – to be a ‘reset’ for the season’s final nine games. There was no such chance, though, for Marcus Rashford who, despite the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo (flu) and Edinson Cavani (injury), was not selected. When the 24-year-old’s freshness due to having a clear international fortnight was factored in it was a stark statement of how far the local boy has fallen.

Ronaldo was the big miss: the hat-trick hero of a 3-2 win over Tottenham in the previous league outing was struck down on Friday so Rangnick did a Pep Guardiola, plumping for a false No 9 in Bruno Fernandes. The Portuguese’s first act featured a puzzled look at Paul Pogba when the latter failed to drift into the space behind Leicester he tapped the ball into. If the Frenchman can often bemuse, there was only clarity regarding Harry Maguire and the support offered the beleaguered defender from the United fans, after he endured boos on England duty.

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