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The decision by the referee to award a penalty to Arsenal after Maguire’s challenge on Havertz, which the defender thought was soft, the Englishman called out the German for going down too easy.
Harry Maguire, Kai Havertz. (X)
Harry Maguire engaged in a war of words with Kai Havertz during the FA Cup clash between Arsenal and Manchester United on Sunday. The incident unfolded around the 70th minute of the tie after the Gunners were awarded a penalty due to a foul by Maguire on Havertz who went down in the box following a challenge by the United centre-back.
Maguire was visibly irked by the decision as he was seen pleading innocence with the referee. With his efforts going in vain, Maguire confronted Havertz and accused him of diving intentionally.
It led to a heated brawl between the two teams.
As players of both teams squared up to one another, Maguire is alleged to have yelled at Haverz, “You cheating s***bag”.
Manuel Ugarte intervened before uttering a few words of his own at the Arsenal star.
After the situation was diffsed Martin Odeegard stepped up to take the spot kick . At that moment, the scoreline stood at 1-1 and Manchester United were playing with ten men after the red card of Diogo Dalot. Odeegard wasted the opportunity to earn the lead, with Altay Bayindir producing a brilliant save to keep the game alive.
The match eventually went into extra time but no team was able to secure the winner. Manchester United got the lifeline when Havertz missed his spot-kick. Joshua Zirkzee scored the fifth and final penalty for the Red Devils to seal the deal.
Manchester United dropped a cryptic post on X (formerly Twitter) after Havertz failed to put the ball into the net during the tiebreaker. They claimed that “justice” had been served after what he did to earn the penalty off Maguire.
The visitors scored the opener at the Emirates Stadium early in the second half, with Bruno Fernandes breaking the deadlock. Gabriel Magalhaes brought Arsenal back to the game ten minutes later. The hosts showed some commendable efforts against the ten-man United but were unable to break their defence.
Havertz’s miss was ultimately proven costly as Mikel Arteta’s side crashed out of the FA Cup. It was the first time since 1995-96 that Arsenal was eliminated from the third round of the tournament in two consecutive seasons.
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United Kingdom (UK)
