Manchester United have been hit with another scathing verdict after Leicester City's James Maddison claims they "felt in control even without the ball".
The Red Devils were held at Old Trafford and needed VAR to spare their blushes after Maddison thought he scored the winner with ten minutes to go before it was ruled out.
United were made to look second best for long periods as they struggled without a recognise forward following Cristiano Ronaldo's late withdrawal.
Leicester took the lead at Kelechi Iheanacho headed home Maddison's cross before Fred levelled the contest just three minutes later. Both teams had periods on top but neither could find a winning goal. Maddison though was asked for his thoughts on the stalemate, but his verdict will not be easy listening for those on the red half of Manchester after their striker-less system failed to ignite.
He told Sky Sports: "Sometimes you can almost feel in control even without the ball. They obviously played with Bruno and Pogba without a recognised striker. They’ve got tricky players in wide areas, but I felt we were in control. We were actually the better team."
The playmaker saw his effort ruled out by Andre Marriner, who was told to consult the pitchside monitor after Raphael Varane went down. Maddison said on the incident: “The disallowed goal is one of them – you see them given and you see them not given. I’m obviously going to be biased and say it’s not a foul. As soon as he goes over to the monitor you know.
“I saw Varane go down. The way he went down I thought it was a twist injury. As soon as the referee went to the monitor I knew something was going to happen that was going to spoil my party." The result further deepens United's woes as they failed to close on Arsenal in fourth.
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They have now played two more games than their rivals but remain several points adrift. The Red Devils face a huge summer with the current campaign set to fall well below expectations as their trophy drought continues. Ralf Rangnick will leave the dugout with a new man coming in and the German was not optimistic about their chances of being in next season's Champions League.
He said: "As long as it (top four) is possible mathematically, it is possible. It is our job and duty to do our best to finish of the best on the best possible note. The picture for me is clear, internally we spoke about it but there is nothing else I can say at this stage."
On the performance Rangnick said: "We gave away a goal on a transitional moment but the reaction after was good and scored a goal. In the end we are not happy with the result but the second half was OK."
