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Manchester United vs Leicester City: Watch the bizarre moment when Anthony Elanga tackles Marcus Rashford in penalty box

Anthony Elanga uncharacteristically tackled his own teammate - Marcus Rashford - in the penalty box when the English forward was set to shoot from close range.

Marcus Rashford in a file photo; Credit: Twitter@MarcusRashford
By Karthik Raman | Apr 3, 2022 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Manchester United had another night to forget in the Premier League on Saturday, as they were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by Leicester City at Old Trafford. It all could have been different had Manchester United scored from a glorious opportunity in injury time, but young winger Anthony Elanga uncharacteristically tackled his own teammate – Marcus Rashford – in the penalty box when the English forward was set to shoot from close range. In Elanga’s defence, he was only trying to score but he ended up tripping his teammate, thereby denying his team a late winner. The bizarre moment summed up United’s disappointing campaign.

Going into the match, United were four points and a game ahead of fourth-placed Arsenal. Three points were the minimum for Ralf Rangnick’s side to keep their top-four hopes alive. However, the Reds were anything but the side that used to dominate English football under legendary former manager Sir Alex Ferguson. In the end, United had to settle for a point that left their top four hopes hanging by a thread.

Manchester United vs Leicester City: An entertaining second half

Earlier, both teams played cautiously in the first half as the chances were far and few between them. The match came alive in the second half when both sides went for it. Leicester took the lead on 63 minutes when James Maddison delivered a brilliant cross to find Kelechi Iheanacho inside the box, and the Nigerian headed home past David de Gea into the bottom corner.

United’s response was swift. Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel’s poor clearance was returned upfield by Raphael Varane and Fred moved towards the edge of the box to set it for Bruno Fernandes. The Portuguese player’s shot was saved by Schmeichel but Fred continued his run to fire home the rebound from close range.

READ MORE – The Red Devils drop points as Fred cancels out Kelechi Iheanacho’s opener

Anthony Elanga denies Marcus Rashford from scoring

Both sides then had moments to clinch the game, but it was the injury time incident that left fans baffled. Rashford received the ball on the edge of the penalty box. He did well to get past a couple of Leicester players’ challenges to get deep into the box. As he was set to shoot, Rashford was brought down. United players and fans complained to the referee, asking for a penalty.

However, the linesman raised an offside flag since Anthony Elanga was in an offside position and had intervened with the play. Further inspection revealed that when Elanga turned and swung out a leg, he accidentally hit his teammate and knocked him down, denying United a much-needed late winner.

Twitter was on fire after that incident with fans struggling to come to terms with it. Check out some of the reactions below:



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