Macheda rescues MU

TOTALLY UNEXPECTED: Manchester United's Italian starlet Federico Macheda (L) gets a congratulatory hug from manager Sir Alex Ferguson after scoring the winning goal against Aston Villa deep into injury time during their Premiership match at Old Trafford on Sunday.Photo: AFP

Italian teenager Federico Macheda netted an injury-time winner on his Premier League debut as Manchester United reclaimed top spot with a dramatic 3-2 victory against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Macheda, 17, signed from Lazio in 2007, curled a stunning strike past goalkeeper Brad Friedel two minutes into stoppage time here at Old Trafford to snatch all three points for the reigning champions.
United looked set for defeat after John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor had cancelled out Cristiano Ronaldo's opener.
But Ronaldo's second and Macheda's strike saw United to a victory that left Sir Alex Ferguson's team a point in front of Liverpool and with a game in hand.
Liverpool's injury-time victory at Fulham 24 hours earlier had enabled Rafa Benitez's team to go top and heap the pressure on United ahead of this game.
That pressure was tangible as Ferguson's men toiled in the early stages, clearly nervous without the suspended trio of Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic and the injured Rio Ferdinand.
This was a makeshift United line-up and Villa were determined to take advantage. Darren Fletcher was forced to clear off the line from Carew's fourth minute header and Agbonlahor destroyed Gary Neville for pace on numerous occasions before Ronaldo gave United the lead against the run of play
The 14th minute goal came as a result of a freekick awarded by referee Mike Riley after Friedel had handled James Milner's back-pass.
Ryan Giggs's short freekick to Ronaldo opened up the angle for the Portuguese forward and he expertly curled the ball past Friedel from 12 yards to claim his 14th league goal of the season.
But United could not build on the opening goal and Villa continued to hold sway as the dominant force.
United captain Neville, making his first appearance following a two-month injury lay-off, was tortured by the pace of Agbonlahor and he was also fighting a losing battle in the air against the towering Norwegian forward Carew.
Neville's frailties were exposed in the 30th minute when Carew equalised for Villa with a routine header from Gareth Barry's cross.
Former Lyon and Valencia striker Carew merely stepped away from Neville and headed past Edwin van der Sar from ten yards.
United had no answer to the equaliser and Ferguson's players appeared leggy after their international exertions across the globe over the past two weeks.
The champions could not cope with the pace of Agbonlahor and Ashley Young and the experience of Carew and Villa were rewarded for their positive approach when England striker Agbonlahor headed them into the lead in the 58th minute.
Having dispossessed Ronaldo deep inside Villa territory, Stiliyan Petrov released Carew before the forward teased Neville prior to crossing for Agbonlahor to head past Van der Sar from six yards.
Now United had real problems. A third successive defeat would hand the title initiative to Liverpool, regardless of United's game in hand, and they simply had to get something from the game to stop the rot.
But it did not look like coming until Ronaldo, so often the saviour in the past, came to the rescue ten minutes from full-time.
Villa's failure to deal with Neville's cross into the penalty area saw the ball drop to Michael Carrick on the edge of the box and he laid it off to Ronaldo 25 yards out.
And from there, the Portuguese star somehow guided a left-foot strike past Friedel before Macheda settled it in stunning fashion.