Maguire clears up Pickford penalty incident
Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has cleared up the controversy surrounding a second-half incident with Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
The Toffees' no.1 appeared to collide with our centre-back shortly after fumbling a Juan Mata free-kick.
Pickford’s knee connected with Maguire’s chest just before the ball went out of play, leading to calls for Michael Oliver, the Video Assistant Referee, to check the incident and retrospectively award a penalty.
Nothing was given, and the United skipper thought a spot-kick in favour of his team, who were leading 2-1 at the time, would have been a 'soft' decision.
“I just explained this in there, I personally don’t think it was [a penalty],” said Harry in his post-match interview.
“I think maybe I fouled Jordan first. I did put a hand into his chest when he went to catch the ball and I did feel contact on my knee.
“I felt like I probably pushed Jordan before and I know everyone’s probably trying to jump on him dropping the ball but I did feel like I pushed him. I’d say [a penalty] would have been a little bit soft.”
Although two goals and an assist from Bruno Fernandes will steal the headlines, Maguire and his defensive partner Victor Lindelof put in a solid showing.
The pair rarely put a foot wrong, aside from Everton’s opening goal, and Harry was glad to get back to winning ways, after a disappointing couple of defeats, to Arsenal and Istanbul Basaksehir.
“Sometimes it’s difficult for the lads but today we reacted really well to two poor results. We felt like we were on the right track after [the 5-0 win versus] Leipzig but we felt like we let ourselves down against Arsenal.
“On another day, Arsenal could have been a different result. It was a tight, edgy game, but we don’t want it to be tight and edgy when we’re playing at Old Trafford. We want to dominate the game. We gave them a soft goal and they went on to win the game.
“In the week [against Istanbul Basaksehir] we again gave them a soft goal to take the lead and we found it hard to create chances to come back.
“We knew it was an important game to come here and get three points. The boys reacted really well but as we know it’s only a start.”
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