Brendan Rodgers felt Man Utd man ‘used his experience’ during controversial VAR decision

Brendan Rodgers has claimed Raphael Varane ‘used his experience’ to win a free-kick for Manchester United in the latter stages of their 1-1 draw with Leicester City, which denied the Foxes a potentially winning goal.

The decision came after Varane went to ground following a collision with Kelechi Iheanacho just moments before James Maddison smashed a shot past David De Gea, and appeared to give Leicester a 2-1 lead with only 10 minutes remaining.

However, after Andre Mariner was advised to check his pitchside monitor, the referee awarded United a free-kick and disallowed Maddison’s goal.

It ultimately proved to be a match-defining decision, as the game ended 1-1 at Old Trafford. But speaking after the game, Rodgers said Varane had been clever in how he won the free-kick off Iheanacho.

"Varane’s used his experience,” said the Leicester manager in his post-match press conference. “He’s an experienced player. He gets the contact and goes down, but I think the disappointing thing is that it didn’t directly lead to the goal.

“Harry [Maguire] is there but misses the challenge. The full-back misses the challenge. That’s all before we score. It was on the back of a really good move. It was a great finish.

"Every week we are seeing these types of actions, we felt we deserved to win the game. We’re bitterly disappointed with the decision."

Should McTominay have been sent off?

Maddison was in the thick of the action on Saturday and took a painful whack from Scott McTominay in the early stages of the second half, which resulted in the Scotland international receiving a yellow card.

However, there have been suggestions McTominay was lucky to escape with just a booking given the speed and height of the challenge, and the Leicester players were incensed at the time.

Rodgers admitted he would not have been surprised had the midfielder received a red card, but said he’s more frustrated with the inconsistencies of the officiating in the Premier League.

“We had one in the season when Ayoze Perez was sent off [against West Ham United]. That one was similar, the ball gets away he has to make a challenge. We got the yellow,” said the Northern Irishman.

“He [McTominay] was a wee bit heavy on his touch and goes in committed. It could very easily have seen red. That’s the inconsistency there.”