What happened to Federico Macheda 11 years on from THAT Manchester United goal against Aston Villa

Federico Macheda became an instant Manchester United hero with THAT stoppage time goal against Aston Villa… but 11 years on why did he not kick on to become a Red Devils star?

• It has been 11 years since Federico Macheda made an astonishing debut
• The then Manchester United striker scored a wonder goal in stoppage time
• Strike earned United a 3-2 win over Aston Villa and sent them top of the table
• But Macheda struggled to keep up form during his Old Trafford career 

By Dan Ripley for MailOnline

Published: 16:42 BST, 5 April 2020 | Updated: 16:50 BST, 5 April 2020

Football has a great history of teenagers exploding onto the scene before going on to become stars of the game.

Manchester United had a whole class of them come through at once in the early 1990s, and then there is Federico Macheda.

In 2009, the then 17-year-old striker was named on the bench for Manchester United’s huge clash against a handy Aston Villa side who despite a poor run of form were in the mix for a Champions League place.

Federico Macheda celebrates his crucial goal against Aston Villa in 2009 on his senior debut

Macheda’s goal came in the third minute of stoppage time at Old Trafford to earn three points 

For United the stakes were even higher. Heading into the game they had lost their previous two Premier League encounters and slipped behind Liverpool at the top of the table a day previously in a season they were looking to match the Reds’ record 18-top flight titles.

Despite going 1-0 up at Old Trafford, Villa hit back to take a 2-1 lead before the hour mark in the 58th minute. Desperate times for Sir Alex Ferguson called for desperate measures and in turning to his bench, he gave Macheda the nod to make his senior debut in replacing Nani with 29 minutes to play.

Cristiano Ronaldo equalised with 10 minutes left but Sir Alex Ferguson’s stuttering side badly needed three points to get their title bid back on track.

The goal sparked delirious scenes at Old Trafford as Macheda was mobbed by his team-mates 

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson congratulates Macheda on his decisive goal following the crucial 3-2 win over Villa that helped United regain control of the Premier League title race

Those 10 minutes soon passed and then a couple more. However hope is never lost when United are chasing late goals. The term ‘Fergie time’ wasn’t coined by accident.

But not even United supporters could have imagined what was to come next. Ryan Giggs played a short pass into the penalty box, and following a bamboozling back heel turn, a young Italian many inside the ground would have been unaware of previously bent a strike across goal past a helpless Brad Friedel to snatch yet another dramatic late winner at the Theatre of Dreams.

Old Trafford erupted. Even Sky Sports’ commentator Martin Tyler could barely finish the Italian’s name without his voice cackling into a high pitched squeal. 

Often forgotten is that Macheda also scored another winning goal for United – at Sunderland a week after his Villa strike having again come off the bench

His co-commentator Andy Gray followed up with the ‘a star is born’ line and in the immediate reaction post-match it was hard to disagree with him.

Macheda had gone from being a young promising forward who was making up the numbers on an attacking threadbare United bench, to being the talk of the town in little over half-an-hour.

A week later at Sunderland, he did it all again. Coming off the bench with 15 minutes to play he struck the winner at the Stadium of Light a minute later and he looked destined for glory along with United who went on to win the title for a third consecutive season. 

Macheda (second left) celebrates helping with team-mates after lifting the league title in 2009

MACHEDA CAREER 

Manchester United 2008-2014

36 games, 5 goals

Sampdoria 2011 (loan)

16 games, 1 goal

Queens Park Rangers 2012 (loan)

6 games, 0 goals

Stuttgart 2013 (loan)

18 games, 0 goals

Doncaster Rovers 2013 (loan)

15 games, 3 goals

Birmingham City 2014 (loan)

18 games, 10 goals

Cardiff City 2014-2016

33 games, 8 goals

Nottingham Forest 2016 (loan)

3 games, 0 goals

Novara 2016-2018

52 games, 11 goals

Panathinaikos 2018-

55 games, 24 goals

Sadly for Macheda his career had already peaked and he would never hit the same heights again. 

In the following 2009-10 campaign he didn’t score again until two days shy of the Villa goal anniversary, and even that came in a costly 2-1 home defeat by Chelsea which proved costly for the Red Devils in the defence of their title.

A disastrous loan move to Sampdoria followed in 2011 where he scored just once in 16 games. A year later he scored even fewer in half-a-dozen appearances for Queens Park Rangers.

By the time 2013 rolled around it had been four years on from his breakthrough moment. Ferguson had left, David Moyes was in yet at 21 his career was already on the wane.

In 2014 he left United for two unsuccessful years at Cardiff and it took until 2018 before he could start finding some semblance of form again when he joined Panathinaikos.

In what are the peak years of his career at 28, he has netted 24 goals in 55 matches for the Greek side to help rebuild a career that had looked set for a lot more back in April 11 years ago.

Macheda has since found form for Greek side Panathinaikos after joining them in 2018

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