Rodgers hits out over McTominay booking for for lunge on Maddison

Brendan Rodgers complained of refereeing double-standards after his side were denied a famous win at Old Trafford.

Leicester felt Scott McTominay should have been sent off for a lunge that caught James Maddison early in the second half and Rodgers also accused United defender Raphael Varane of 'being clever' to deny his side a winner through a VAR check.

McTominay escaped with a yellow card when he left Maddison in agony and United boss Ralf Rangnick took the hint by taking the midfielder off soon afterwards.

'We had a similar situation at West Ham earlier in the season when Ayoze Perez took a heavy touch and then caught his opponent.

'He got a red card. Scott was heavily committed in his challenge after a heavy touch it could easily have been the same decision.

'James had pain in his foot but we were thankful he could continue and played fantastically in the end.'

Maddison was also at the centre of another late controversy when he struck after 80 minutes only for the goal to be chalked off following a VAR check for a foul by Kelechi Iheanacho on Raphael Varane, who went down as if shot.

'I am disappointed. Varane has used his experience. He gets the contact and goes down,' added Rodgers, with Maddison also unhappy at the goal being ruled out.

'The way Varane went down I thought it was a twist injury,' said the midfielder. 'I'm obviously going to be biased and say it's not a foul. As soon as the referee went over to the monitor, I knew it was going to spoil my party.'

United interim Ralf Rangnick couldn't hide his disappointment at another blow to his team's prospects of qualifying for the Champions League.

'Right now, we are not the favourites to finish fourth,' he acknowledged. 'It doesn't make the situation any better