Age at first goal: 17 years, 226 days The perma-tanned Italian Federico "Kiko" Macheda scored a genuine fairytale goal on his Manchester United debut. Having scored regularly for the Under-18 and reserve squads, the ex-Lazio youth prospect was rewarded with a place in the first team squad towards the end of the 2008/09 season. He made his first team bow against Aston Villa in April. With United 2-1 down, Ferguson turned to the Italian no one had heard of to turn the game around. After Ronaldo had equalised with 10 minutes to go United kept pouring forward. Then, in stoppage time, Macheda received the ball just inside the area with his back to goal. An adroit turn left his marker chasing shadows, and he curled the ball into the top corner. It was the turning point in United's season. United went into the Villa match with Liverpool top of the table, and a squad so decimated by injuries and suspensions that a barely fit 34-year-old Gary Neville started at centre half and in addition to Macheda the bench contained Darron Gibson, Lee Martin and Richard Ecklersly. The unknown Italian made a huge impact on his first appearance. What happened next? Macheda scored in his next Premier League appearance against Sunderland but flubbed his audition when handed a rare start in the FA Cup semi final against Everton (he was subsituted at half time). He made a handful of appearances in the next season (scoring once) before joining Sampdoria on loan in search of first team football. He failed to impress in Italy, and the same could be said of subsequent loan spells at QPR, Stuttgart and Doncaster Rovers. He found some form on loan at Birmigham City in 2014, with an impressive ten goals in as many starts, before signing for Cardiff on a free transfer to rejoin Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who had been his manager at Manchester United's reserves. He scored just 6 goals in his first season in Wales, and it doesn't look as though he'll be hitting the heights of his debut anytime soon.
David is an office drone and freelance writer for WhatCulture and Moviepilot, among others. He's also foolishly writing a serialised novel on Jukepop and has his own irregularly updated website. He's available for freelance work. Reach out on Twitter to @davefox990
