Man United 3, Aston Villa 2: Macheda the stand-in hero

THE Premier League title race took another dramatic twist yesterday on an afternoon when Manchester United found an unlikely hero in their victory against Aston Villa.

Their spectacular injury time match-winning goal at Old Trafford came from 17-year-old Italian Federico Macheda on his debut for the Reds.

And the strike from the unknown Macheda could prove a pivotal moment in the championship race as it came at a time when it seemed United’s recent wobble was about to continue.

After the recent back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and Fulham, the confidence was even more fragile after Villa established a 2-1 lead against a depleted United team with eight senior players ruled out.

Cristiano Ronaldo gave United a glimmer of hope with an equaliser but with a front line of Macheda and Danny Welbeck as the match went into five minutes of stoppage time, a Reds’ victory appeared a long shot.

But in the third minute of overtime came the goal from Macheda, who is the top scorer for both the Academy and reserve teams.

Macheda produced a brilliant turn to create space on the edge of the penalty area before curling an exquisite shot beyond the despairing reach of keeper Brad Friedel.

It was a remarkable moment for Macheda who was captured from Italian giants Lazio.

“It was a day of my dreams to make my debut and score a goal like that,” explained Macheda, who replaced Nani after an hour.

Reds captain Gary Neville also spelled out the importance of the goal and the victory.

Neville said: “It was a massive win which takes us back to the top of the table, though there is still a long way to go and a lot of tough games in front of us.”

“As Liverpool and Chelsea won, it is important we did so not give more encouragement to them. We did our job today, but we still have another eight cup finals to come.

“We are grateful to Frederico and the quality he showed for the finish was absolutely unbelievable.”

The absences of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Paul Scholes, Anderson, Wes Brown and Owen Hargreaves left United’s playing resources stretched.

Indeed, the squad was so threadbare that the bench contained the likes of Macheda, Welbeck, Darron Gibson, Lee Martin and Richard Eckersley.

After a nervous start, United made a 14th minute breakthrough in bizarre circumstances after Friedel inexplicably picked up a back pass from James Milner and Ronaldo scored with an unstoppable free kick.

But Villa equalised just short of the half-hour after United’s lack of inches in the centre of defence was exposed as John Carew eluded Gary Neville to head home Gareth Barry’s cross.

And worse was to come after an hour when Ronaldo carelessly gave away possession and United were exposed in the air again as Gabriel Agbonlahor rose above keeper Edwin van der Sar to head home Carew’s cross from the left.

Ronaldo made amends with his second goal - and 20th of the season- to set up a grand finale in which Darren Fletcher and Welbeck were both denied by super saves from Friedel before Macheda provided the latest twist to an increasingly absorbing title race.



Guarin boosts Porto

PORTO midfielder Freddy Guarin has returned to full fitness and has been included in Jesualdo Ferreira’s squad to face Manchester United in the first leg of their Champions League quarter–final clash.

The Colombia international has fully recovered from an ankle sprain and will be available for tomorrow’s game, as will Lisandro Lopez who was suspended for the weekend league victory at Guimaraes.