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Nostalgia
In March 2009, it seemed like the Premier League title race was almost over, with Manchester United beating for the third time in a row.
Alex Ferguson's men had seven points in advance with one game less. Liverpool and Chelsea finished together in second place, although Rafa Benitez's team has more momentum than the Blues, but it still has to come to Old Trafford, where no visiting team has scored a point since Newcastle United of the first day of the season.
And yet, only a few weeks later, United was counting on the most tireless of sources – a 17-year-old woman – to try to save a season that was about to collapse.
Liverpool was in good form, but the way to win at Old Trafford was a shock, especially when Cristiano Ronaldo gave the advantage to his team 1-0.
Four unanswered goals, including one from Andrea Dossena – Andrea Dossena! – is enough to push a team to action or inaction, and in United's case, it was the last one.
They lost the next match in Fulham, taking advantage of the absence of Nemanja Vidić – sacked the previous week for a foul on Fernando Torres – against United in West London for the first time in over forty years .
Sometimes it's too easy to accuse an opponent of the title of having bottled it when it loses against a not-proud team, but this opportunity (United finished with nine men at Craven Cottage after Paul Scholes's dismissal and Wayne Rooney) is certainly qualified.
At the very least, it was not the kind of thing that we would badociate with a team that held the last end of the season at home in the previous two seasons.
Those red cards at Fulham meant that United started their next game without Scholes and Rooney, while Vidić was also unavailable.
That should not have been a problem, as they could not have asked a lot of more inviting opponents than a camp at Aston Villa in freefall.
Martin O'Neill's men had scored just one point in their last five games and eight in total without a win in all competitions, as they saw their first four hopes go down. In addition, they had shipped five to Anfield before the international break in March.
United was starting to look a bit stale, with five academy products named on a bench of seven players, but they would surely have enough. Surely…
Panic stations
This was certainly the case when Ronaldo opened the scoring after Brad Friedel scored a backhand pbad and United won an indirect free kick.
However, as the Liverpool game showed, United was not strong enough to sit on one goal from the Portuguese and badume that would be enough.
The unusual way of the first goal should have been enough to let both sides know it would not be an ordinary game, but United ignored the warnings.
John Carew was about to open the scoring when Darren Fletcher had cleared his head. The Norwegian striker eventually reached his goal half an hour after heading to center, Gareth Barry.
United should have known that they had the ability to react, having scored two goals in each of the three matches before their defeat to Liverpool.
On the other hand, it was Villa who scored the following goal: a move that started in the visitors' half-field and ended with Gabby Agbonlahor bravely beating Edwin van der Sar on a center, taking a shot at the head but baduring that the ball ended in the goal.
The title race is often a question of momentum; United was heading in one direction. Was the decision to introduce Kiko Macheda for her debut an inspired call, or was it an act of desperation on the part of a manager with few options? Or was it both?
Getting rid of the stench of a failure can be tedious and time consuming, so Ferguson has bet on a quick fix. After all, if you do not play a minute for the first team, you will not be able to taste defeat.
A record 10 goals in 16 reserve matches were enough for United fans to try to determine if Macheda would have what it took to put the match in their favor. But first it was Ronaldo's turn to score, beating Friedel for the second time with a low effort of the left foot in the corner of the net of the American.
Ronaldo from Real Madrid or Juventus could have been counted on to complete his treble and seal the win by himself, but on that occasion, United needed another man to intervene. Well, we say dude, Macheda was really still a boy.
A few seconds before receiving the ball from Ryan Giggs, the Italian tried – and failed – to get a quick shot. If Villa had been alert, they would have recognized the danger of seeing the same thing happen again, but these things happen so fast that it is often difficult to marry the actions of body and mind.
The first contact allowed a change of direction enough to let Luke Young out of breath, then the finish … well, that's the kind of thing that few people would have the chance to try, let alone return.
"I think it's the day of my dreams – scoring a goal like that in my debut," said Macheda, but he did not even do it.
In the next match, just a minute after coming into play, he shot Michael Carrick to seal the win in a tense match against Sunderland.
United's experienced team tense under the pressure of sealing a title that seemed inevitable a month earlier, but Macheda did not have that concern. In a way, he benefited from having do not He had not been experienced enough to think or guess himself, so his instinct took over.
This may not be what you need during an entire season, but when this season only depends on two weeks, it can prove invaluable.
United won their next four games, then his match in hand, while Liverpool lost points in a 4-4 draw against Arsenal. United had sealed the title with a game to spare – something that, when Macheda entered the field against Villa, seemed unlikely.
"My life changed that day and it has never been the same again," Macheda recalls in an interview with ESPN in 2017.
"For now, it's still the best football day of my life."
He may not have reached the same highs since, but why would he even need to?
By Tom Victor
More Manchester United
The seven stages of Federico Macheda's career: from the nomadic golden boy
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