April 2009: Manchester United 's strike force consists of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov and Danny Welbeck.
Sir Alex Ferguson is chasing his third successive Premier League title, a record-equalling run of both his and the division's era. In a crucial home clash with Aston Villa, the injury-ridden Red Devils find themselves 2-1 down with half an hour remaining and Ferguson turns to the bench to call on a skinny 17-year-old who'd never played a minute of senior football. His name? Federico Macheda.
Making a nuisance of himself as Ronaldo scored his second goal of the game to set up a tense finale, Macheda then became the hero by scoring one of United's most memorable goals of the modern age. Wisely opening himself up for a disguised Ryan Giggs pass, the 17-year-old Italian only needed one sublime chop to turn Luke Young and swing the ball beyond the sprawling Brad Friedel.
Cue the ecstasy, the emotion - and the talk of this boy's surely bright future.
Another late winner against Sunderland just a week later further fuelled the excitement but Macheda's career went flying off the tracks towards success soon after. Billed to be the next big thing as Ronaldo left for Real Madrid that summer, the Rome-born starlet only scored two more goals for the Red Devils across the next five years in a mere 25 more appearances.
Truncated by five separate loan spells, Macheda ended his Old Trafford rollercoaster for good in 2014 and is now playing for Turkish side MKE Ankaragucu aged 31, as his disappointing career winds down. Failing to impress with Cardiff and Nottingham Forest, 'Kiko' retuned to his homeland with Novara in 2016 before making a move Panathinaikos, the club which he recently left after four years.
Whenever he's asked to reflect on his career, Macheda isn't shy about admitting his regret at how things have gone. In one of his typically candid interviews since leaving Manchester, the former Italy youth international confessed that his downfall was his partially his own doing, while also citing a loan switch to Sampdoria as fatal to his development at United.
"Those six months spoiled my career, because they tried to kill me as a footballer. They thought because I was coming from United, I was going to save them," he told the Mail. "I started to doubt myself, we fought not to be relegated but people started attacking me. I wasn't ready, I was young. It wasn't working and I shouldn't have been the one chosen to make it work."
Macheda, who missed out on a Premier League winners' medal in 2009 despite his heroics, maturely added: "I could have done more, I worked with an incredible team and I feel like I failed myself in the way I played, the way I took care of myself, my life. I didn't play and looked for excuses instead of working harder.
"Panathinaikos are the perfect club; they're big and have a lot of history. They needed me because they weren't in the best condition, and I was looking for a chance like that. It has been good for everyone."
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Now Macheda has a new challenge at Ankaragucu, still awaiting his first goal having made four starts after putting pen to paper on a bumper two-year contract in July. The ambitious outfit also signed ex-Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Stoke City flop Jese Rodriguez and highly rated Portuguese playmaker Pedrinho following their epic promotion to the Turkish top flight last season.
For Macheda, it was emotional goodbye to Panathinaikos after bagging 40 goals in 116 games for the Greek giants, two tallies which dwarf his previous best at past employers. Sadly, his spectacular start to Premier League life remains what most would consider the highlight of his CV, one which will always be a far cry to Ronaldo's glittering career.
