Macheeeedddddaaaaaaaa!

‘Kiko’ Macheda, Manchester United’s 17 year old Italian wonderkid, scored a sensational 93rd minute winner against Aston Villa to reignite United’s title challenge. All the headlines are about him this morning (which must annoy Yossi Benayoun a little) – but if you’re anything like us you won’t know anything about him. So here is Macheda in focus…

• Federicho ‘Kiko’ Macheda was born on August 22nd 1991 in Rome, Italy
• He played for local side Lazio as a youth, before United signed up a day after his sixteenth birthday. Lazio murmured about an illegal approach but never actually reported anything.
• United paid for Macheda and his family to relocate to Cheshire, and he officially joined the academy on 16th September 2007.
• ‘Kiko’ scored the only goal of the game on his debut, a 1–0 away win over Barnsley on 15 September 2007 (signing forms the next day)
• He was top scorer for the U18s in his first season, with 12 goals in 21 games
• He made his debut for United’s reserves in February 2008
• Macheda signed his first professional contract with Manchester United on his 17th birthday in August 2008.
• He was given the squad number 41 for the 2008/9 season
• Macheda was rewarded for his form in the reserves (a hat-trick against Newcastle in the previous game) with a place on the United bench to face Villa on April 5th
• With United injury ravaged and 2-1 down, he was thrown on with 30 minutes to go – and scored the winning goal with a spectacular curling shot in the 93rd minute
• Macheda ran straight to his father in the crowd to celebrate, a la Pat Cash.
• Read here for the Times’ expose – and Facebook stalking…

So, the next big thing or the next Neil Mellor? To be Kiki Macheda right now… although, on the downside, he may have already had the best moment of his life, and scored the most important goal of his career, at just 17…