by Mihail Matikov

Created on: April 18, 2009   Last Updated: April 19, 2009

Manchester United proved that it won't give up easy on the title race, after defeating Aston Villa 3-2 at the Old Trafford. Whoever watched the game, will not forget it anytime soon- it was a spectacular,and a new star was born. The young 17- years old Italian striker Federico Macheda scored the winning goal for Manchester United in the 93rd minute. Before that Christiano Ronaldo achieved to score twice for his team.

The game started good for the defending champions and Ronaldo scored for 1-0, after a beautiful strike from a free-kick in the upper right corner of Brad Friedel. The free-kick was given after Aston Villa defender James Millner returned the ball to the goalkeeper and he caught it in the penalty area. After the goal Manchester United was the better team and pressured the Birmingham team in its half. Aston Villa, however, did not decide to give up and scored one goal in the 29th minute. After a beautiful pass from the right, the veteran John Carew made the result 1-1 with a good header. Until the end of the half time, the game was quite uneventful and everything was left to be decided in the second half.

The second part of the game did not start good for the champions and in the 57nd minute Aston Villa scored a second goal. The author of the first one- John Carew- made a very accurate pass to Gabriell Agbonlahor, and the young Englishman did not miss, making the result 1-2. He jumped very high and before the look of Nani score a goal with a nice header. After the goal, Manchester United fans probably saw the third consecutive lost in Premiership for their team, and the title was about to slip out of their hands. The genius of Ronaldo, however, got United back in the game in the 79th minute. The Portuguese scored a beautiful goal from the end of the penalty area with his "weak" left foot. His kick was precise and got into Brad Friedel's net to make the result 2-2. A draw would not be enough for the champions to keep the first place in the table, because earlier the same day Liverpool won a precious victory, winning against Fulham as a guest with a goal in the 90th minute.

Manchester United is known for the decisive goals scored in the last minutes of the game, and the one with Aston Villa was not an exception. The young 17- years old Federico Macheda came in as a substitute in the 61st minute for Nani. The Italian teenager will not forger his debut anytime soon, after scoring the winning goal in the game in the 93rd minute. He received a pass into the penalty area, stopped the ball very precisely and with an amazing turn and strike he won the game for his team, and kept United on top of the table.

Federico Macheda was bought from SS Lazio in 2008 and ever since has been playing for the reserve team. His debut was more than amazing and it will be fair to say that his goal against Aston Villa, was the goal which will bring the title in Manchester for the third consecutive year. Aside from the Italian, United once again proved that has problems in defense. Both goals for Aston Villa were scored easily and it is obvious that the absence of Rio Ferdinand and Nemaja Vidic is critical. United won the game but left many question marks about its performance and about the game against FC Porto on Tuesday. With the win, Manchester United kept its one point avdance before Liverpool and still has a game in hand.

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