Harry Maguire set to avoid retrospective action for Michy Batshuayi kick as Roy Keane labels him ‘very, very lucky’

Harry Maguire looks set to avoid any threat retrospective action for his apparent kick out at Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi, but former Manchester United captain Roy Keane believes he should count himself a “lucky, lucky boy”.

Maguire was spared any disciplinary action in the 21st minute despite a Video Assistant Referee review looking into his incident with the Chelsea forward.

Batshuayi shoved Maguire in the back just as the United skipper was clearing the ball up field, resulting in him falling to the turf as he ran off the pitch, and he appeared to extend his right leg towards the Belgian and kicking him in the groin right in front of the Chelsea dug-out, who reacted furiously to the incident.

Referee Anthony Taylor was some way from the collision and so any action was left to VAR Christopher Kavanagh, who deemed that there was no violent conduct involved and decided against issuing any card.

The verdict incensed the Chelsea squad and staff, but Maguire is unlikely to face retrospective action as Kavanagh determined a red card was not warranted for the contact, with the Football Association only reserving such retrospective action for significant errors. Watford saw similar circumstances strike their midfielder Roberto Pereyra earlier this season, although on that occasion the player was incorrectly sent off by the VAR and the club were forced to appeal the sanction, whereas in Maguire’s case the VAR sided with the player at fault.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard immediately spoke out against the decision after the match, and his feelings were echoed by Keane who believed that Maguire should have been sent off.

“He’s a lucky, lucky boy,” Keane said on Sky Sports. “Maguire, maybe because it’s his personality, a calm lad, but he definitely kicks out.”

Keane added after the match: “His personality helped him, he comes across as a decent guy, it’s a decent excuse, but he’s a lucky boy.”

Both Keane and fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher watched Maguire explain his action in his post-match interview, with the England centre-back claiming that the sight of Batshuayi heading towards him forced a sporadic movement to straighten his leg and brace for contact.

“I knew I caught him,” Maguire said. “I thought he was going to fall on me, the natural reaction was to try and hold him up. It wasn’t a kick out, there was no intent or anything like that, my reaction was to straighten my leg, if he was going to fall on me just to hold him up.

“I did catch him, but it’s the right decision in the end. I didn’t have any intent to hurt him or kick him. I’ve got studs on the end of my boots so it makes it worse but I apologised to him.”

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That explanation didn’t sway Carragher in his assessment though, and given that it was the same referee who sent off Tottenham forward Son Heung-min earlier this season for a similar offence against Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger, he questioned the consistency of such VAR reviews.

“I think it’s a red card. The referee can’t see it, that’s got to go to VAR,” Carragher said.

“It’s the inconsistency that frustrates people. It’s not gonna go away, different people using it. But Harry Maguire’s a lucky boy.”

Lampard believed the decision to not reduce United to 10 men for more than an hour played a big part in his side’s 2-0 defeat,

“Maguire should get a red card and then he scores the second goal, and the game changes off that,” said Lampard. “That's a major part of what VAR was for. The referee can't see all the angles and if you're not going to use the pitchside monitor, I don't understand it.”

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