More than 75,000 fans leapt in delight as Federico
Macheda scored Manchester United's last-gasp winner against Aston
Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday - but most probably did not even
know his name at the start of the match.
Even club captain Gary Neville admitted afterwards he had never
seen him before but said he was grateful for his stoppage-time goal
that gave United their memorable 3-2 win.
The 17-year-old made his debut as a 61st-minute substitute for
Nani. He looked impressive from his first touch before scoring the
goal that took United back to the top of the Premier League
table.
He was then booked for running into the crowd and hugging his
father in delight and finished the afternoon being named man of the
match.
He has been scoring regularly for United's youth and reserve
teams since joining the club in September 2007 after developing
through Lazio's youth system.
Born in Rome, he signed professional forms last August and is
regarded as one of the most promising young prospects of Italian
soccer.
Known as "Kiko", United's website says: "He is strong on the
ball, has good positional sense in the box and his clinical
finishing meant manager Alex Ferguson gave him a Champions League
squad number midway through the 2008/09 campaign."
Macheda told Sky Sports News: "Scoring a goal like that - I
really enjoyed it."
Asked what Ferguson said to him when he sent him on, he replied:
"Play simple, just play. When I got the ball I just wanted to
score."
United skipper Neville praised the youngster's performance.
"We are grateful to him -- the quality he showed at the end was
unbelievable. I had not seen him before today but he's a great
finisher and you'd want it to fall to him in the box."
Ferguson, though, kept it all in perspective.
Asked what he said to him afterwards, the United manager
replied: "Well done. He'll need to keep his feet on the ground
because he will get a lot of publicity over the next few days and
he'll need to handle that."
