Sensational Macheda strike rescues United
Cristiano Ronaldo got United back in the game
Also In The News
|
Alan Shearer's reign as Newcastle manager gets off to disappointing start as they lost 2-0 to Chelsea at St James' Park. |  |
Sunday, 05, Apr 2009 09:36
Teenage striker Federico Macheda scored a breathtaking winner as Manchester United came from behind to beat Aston Villa 3-2.
The champions had taken the lead through a Cristiano Ronaldo free-kick. But Villa came back and went in front as John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor both scored with headers.
United got back on level terms as Ronaldo scored his second, but they looked to be heading for a disappointing draw before Macheda scored a brilliant injury-time winner.
After the hammering against Liverpool and the defeat to Fulham, United looked nervous early on as Villa started on the front foot.
The home side could have fallen behind as an unmarked Carew had a header cleared off the line by Darren Fletcher.
A second-string United defence, without Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, were under the cosh early on, but they had the experienced Gary Neville playing at centre-half and he did well to marshall the defence.
Villa shot themselves in the foot after making such a bright start. Patrice Evra tried to play a through ball for Nani, but the pass was too strong.
But while the ball was rolling towards Brad Friedel, James Milner decided to touch it back and Villa were penalised for a back-pass.
Ryan Giggs tapped the ball into the path of free-kick specialist Ronaldo and he curled the ball around the Villa wall and into the top right-hand corner over Nicky Shorey's head.
Villa continued to press forward despite conceding the goal and earned a deserved equaliser. Barry did fantastically well to chest down a high ball on the right wing and withstood the pressure of both Jonny Evans and Evra before playing in a delightful ball for Carew to head past Edwin van der Sar.
With both Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney missing, United relied even more on Ronaldo. The Portuguese winger came close to scoring his second as he got on the end of a Nani free-kick, but Ronaldo could only direct his header straight at Friedel.
Sir Alex Ferguson started the second-half by urging the United fans to get behind his players, but 15 minutes into the half it was the Villa fans who were left singing from the top of their voices.
Ronaldo lost the ball too easily in the Villa half and the visitors broke with Carew picking up the ball on the left-wing. The Villa forward almost walked into the penalty area as the United defence backed off him for some reason and Carew played the ball into the area for Agbonlahor to head home.
United threw on 17-year-old striker Macheda and the Italian thought he had a won a penalty when he was wrestled down in the area by Curtis Davies, but referee Mike Riley waved away United's appeals.
However, Ronaldo made amends for his part in the Villa goal as he drilled in a low shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal from the edge of the box to bring United back to level terms.
United had a golden chance to take the lead as Danny Welbeck had a chance to shoot from three yards out, but Friedel did brilliantly to save.
It looked like the title race would be blown wide open until young Macheda came up with an unbelievable strike. The youngster turned superbly in the penalty area and then curled the ball expertly pass Friedel to give United an amazing win.