Neville hails match-winner Macheda

05 April 2009 18:15
Gary Neville described Federico Macheda's last-gasp winner as "unbelievable" after the teenager came off the bench to sink Aston Villa. Manchester United returned to the top of the Premier League after coming from behind to beat Martin O'Neill's side 3-2 at Old Trafford. Macheda caught virtually everybody by surprise with a fabulous turn and strike in injury time but Neville said the youngster already had a reputation at the club as a quality goalscorer. "I'm just grateful to him really," Neville told Sky Sports News."In the first half we fell apart a bit defensively and I think I paid a little bit for not playing for a couple of months. "But in the second half we played the right way - we never stopped, kept passing the ball and got stronger as the game went on. "And the quality he (Macheda) has shown there for the finish at the end is unbelievable. "The captain insisted that the team never lost hope of turning around a match they had been losing 2-1. "You never think you're going to lose," he said. "When you're out there you always think you can get something and I think when we got the second goal you always think you can get another one. "You always know you're going to get a chance - Danny Welbeck had one before that and then the ball fell to Kiko (Macheda). We've not seen much of him before today but he's a great finisher and you would always want the ball to fall to him in the box. "Macheda, who ran over to his family after scoring, admitted he was in dreamland. "I think this is the day of my dreams - to score a goal like that on my debut," he said.

Source: Eurosport