| 3 - 2 |
| ||||||
| Cristiano Ronaldo 14 | John Carew 30 | |||||||
| Cristiano Ronaldo 80 | Gabriel Agbonlahor 58 | |||||||
| Federico Macheda 90 |
Teenage substitute Federico Macheda netted a last-gasp winner on his Manchester United debut to hand a 3-2 win over Aston Villa and ensure the defending champions ended the weekend a point ahead of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League standings with a game in hand.
Liverpool moved ahead of United and into first place overnight with Yossi Benayoun's winner also coming two minutes into stoppage-time.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men took the lead against the run of play when Brad Friedel picked up James Milner's back pass and an indirect free-kick awarded on 14 minutes. Ryan Giggs laid the ball off to Cristiano Ronaldo, who sent it over the wall and into the roof of Friedel's net in a flash.
Villa struck the equaliser in the 30th minute when giant Norwegian John Carew crept between Gary Neville and John O'Shea to steer a deft header into the bottom corner.
Things got better for Villa as they took the lead on 58 minutes. Ronaldo was forced off the ball by Stiliyan Petrov who fed Carew. His chipped cross found Patrice Evra and Nani taking root and Gabriel Agbonlahor rose majestically to nod home past Edwin van der Sar.
Ferguson's response was to replace Nani with 17-year-old Macheda.
It did however bring an immediate improvement as the champions were level on 80 minutes through Ronaldo. Fed by Michael Carrick, he drilled a low left footed shot from the edge of the area into the bottom right hand corner.
While his players celebrated Fergie simply swung his arm, ordering them back to their own half, as his side have just set themselves up for a last-gasp win.
And in the second minute of injury time, Macheda turned Luke Young and curled the ball past Friedel to send the noisy, rowdy Old Trafford crowd into ruptures.
Man United v Aston Villa goal & highlights
Elsewhere in Premier League on Sunday:
Related links:
Also see:
Liverpool moved ahead of United and into first place overnight with Yossi Benayoun's winner also coming two minutes into stoppage-time.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men took the lead against the run of play when Brad Friedel picked up James Milner's back pass and an indirect free-kick awarded on 14 minutes. Ryan Giggs laid the ball off to Cristiano Ronaldo, who sent it over the wall and into the roof of Friedel's net in a flash.
Villa struck the equaliser in the 30th minute when giant Norwegian John Carew crept between Gary Neville and John O'Shea to steer a deft header into the bottom corner.
Things got better for Villa as they took the lead on 58 minutes. Ronaldo was forced off the ball by Stiliyan Petrov who fed Carew. His chipped cross found Patrice Evra and Nani taking root and Gabriel Agbonlahor rose majestically to nod home past Edwin van der Sar.
Ferguson's response was to replace Nani with 17-year-old Macheda.
It did however bring an immediate improvement as the champions were level on 80 minutes through Ronaldo. Fed by Michael Carrick, he drilled a low left footed shot from the edge of the area into the bottom right hand corner.
While his players celebrated Fergie simply swung his arm, ordering them back to their own half, as his side have just set themselves up for a last-gasp win.
And in the second minute of injury time, Macheda turned Luke Young and curled the ball past Friedel to send the noisy, rowdy Old Trafford crowd into ruptures.
Man United v Aston Villa goal & highlights
Elsewhere in Premier League on Sunday:
| 4 - 0 |
|
Please subscribe to our RSS feed to receive more updates. You can also subscribe by Email and enjoy our latest posts sent directly to your inbox.
Related links:
Also see:
