First time lucky, second time right! Who would have imagined the 17-year-old Manchester United Reserve player, Federico Macheda, to have burst into the scene with sublime match-winning goals for two consecutive ocassions.

With Liverpool just won 4-0 against Blackburn in the afternoon and leptfrog Manchester United to top position in the English Premier League, Manchester United is drawing 1-1 against Sunderland and the match is seems nowhere clear of winning as the Red Devils are completely devoid of idea and creativity. That is when Sir Alex Ferguson took the gamble and threw in Federico Macheda in the 74^th minute. Within a minute in the field, he scored the winning goal as the game ended 2-1 to put Manchester United at the top of the Premiership Table again.

It was about one week ago when Fedrico Macheda made his debut for Manchester United, and the team was again then drawing 2-2 with Aston Villa at the 80^th minute, when Cristiano Ronaldo scored the equaliser. Everyone thought, if we could snatch a point, it will be a happy day for all, but that is not what Sir Alex Ferguson thinks. He substituted with Macheda, and during the injury time, he did what he is made to be, scored the winning goal in the 95^th minute to put Manchester United into the top of the table (as Liverpool had won a game a day earlier). And the rest is history. Since then, stories about him flood the English newspaper in the UK.

Both match-winning goals were incredible goals, and they would prove pivotal to Manchester United winning the English Premiership title. At the moment, who could have believed that it is Fedrico Macheda, only a 17-year-old lad, who lifted the Red Devils at the most crucial time to bring them across the finishing line. With 6 more matches left in the EPL, the race to the finishing line would be extremely exciting. Fedrico Macheda might just be the trumph card for Manchester United, as Cristiano Ronaldo was in the last season.

Player Profile
The young Italian boy, just only 17, arrived at United in September 2007. Just 6 days before he scored the winner against Aston Villa, Kiko, his nickname, netted a hat-trick for the Reserves in a thrilling 3-3 draw at St. James Park. Born in Rome, he was formally a Lazio player in the youth system, but relocated to England to further his footballing career.

Federico Macheda started out in the Under-18s, but slowly became a regular in the Reserves’ team. His strength on the ball, positional sense in the box and clinical finishing have not gone unnoticed at the very top. Sir Alex Ferguson handed him a Champions League squad number midway through the 2008/09 campaign and then showed stunning judgement to introduce him against Aston Villa just when the Reds needed a goal most. Six days later, he reprised his match-winner status when it mattered most. Within a minute of entering the fray against Sunderland, with United chasing a winner, Macheda diverted home a crucial winner to further aid the Reds’ defence of the Premier League.

With 2 goals in 2 games; both of which are winning goals. The future definitely look bright for this young Italian. Furthermore, he entered the scene as substitutes; with limited time to score those marvellous goals, he is enroute to become one of the most deadly striker in the world.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portugal and Manchester United winger, becomes the first Premier League player to win the prestigious Fifa World Player 2008 award after beating AC Milan’s Kaka, Liverpool’s Fernando Torres and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Xavi to the title.

Ronaldo’s 42 goals for Manchester United last season helped the Old Trafford club to the Premier League and Champions League double. He also picked up the European Player of the Year honour in December and the FifPro World Footballer of the Year crown in October.

The coaches and captains of 155 national teams took part in the voting for the award with Messi finishing second ahead of Torres, Kaka and Xavi. Ronaldo is only the second Portuguese player to have won the title, following Luis Figo in 2001.

The winner of the prestigious Ballon d’Or trophy has been announced and is awarded to none other than the well-deserved Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United player. Ballon d’Or is the most coveted individual honour in European football, which recognises Ronaldo’s outstanding performances over the past 12 months. The winger has scored an impressive 42 goals last season, on his way to domestic and European glory with the Red Devils.

This morning, the 23-year-old Portuguese joins other United legends George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton on the award’s roll of honour has he became the 42^nd different player to pick up the prize. Previous winners include Kaka (AC Milan, 2007), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus/Real Madrid, 2006) and Ronaldinho (Barcelona, 2005).

Full Nominee List

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo
Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Argentina
Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg), Russia
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Germany
Karim Benzema (Lyon), France
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Italy
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Spain
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Portugal
Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Ivory Coast
Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona), Cameroon
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Spain
Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Spain
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), England
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Sweden
Kaka (Milan AC), Brazil
Frank Lampard (Chelsea), England
Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Argentina
Pepe (Real Madrid), Portugal
Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), France
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), England
Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Spain
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Spain
Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Italy
Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Netherlands
Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Netherland
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Netherlands
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Serbia
David Villa (Valence CF), Spain
Xavi (FC Barcelone), Spain
Youri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Russia

Who will your vote goes to?

The traditional Uefa Cup name will be given a revamp. From next season onwards, the new name will be called Uefa Europa League. Besides the new look of the logo, there is also be some changes to the league.

The Uefa Europa League will have 48 clubs in 12 groups of four, with teams playing each other home and away as opposed to just once as it stands now. The top two in each group will then join the eight third-placed Champions League clubs in a 32-club knock-out stage.

More information is available from the BBC News.

England beat Croatia last night to a 4-1 draw in the World Cup qualifying match in Zagreb, with 19-year-old teenager from Arsenal, Theo Walcott, scoring a hat-trick to complete the rout. This was the first time since Michael Owen scored a hat-trick in 2001 in a competitve match.

David Beckham was dropped to the bench with Fabio Capello preferring the quicker and pacier winger to the experienced right midfielder. From the start, Theo Walcott brings out the fear in the opponent defenders as he raced past them a couple of times. His goals signifies a very huge contribution to the England team, raising their confidence level to the highest, since Steve McLaren last led the national team.

The other goal is scored by Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney. His work rate is nevertheless impressive as he terrorised the Croatia defenders apart with his sublime skills and fast thinkings. Good work to the English team, as now they stand at top of the Group.

Brazilian twins Fabio and Rafael have been handed the number 20 and 21 shirts respectively, while young strikers Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda will wear no.19 and no.41 if and when they are used this term. The fully squad numbers are given below.

1.Van der Sar,
2.Neville,
3.Evra,
4.Hargreaves,
5.Ferdinand,
6.Brown,
7.Ronaldo,
8.Anderson,
9.Saha,
10.Rooney,
11.Giggs,
12.Foster,
13.Park,
15.Vidic,
16.Carrick,
17.Nani,
18.Scholes,
19.Welbeck,
20.Fabio,
21.Rafael,
22.O’Shea,
23.Evans,
24.Fletcher,
26.Manucho,
27.Silvestre,
28.Gibson,
29.Kuszczak,
31.Campbell,
32.Tevez,
33.Hewson,
34.Possebon,
35.Cleverley,
36.Gray,
37.Cathcart,
38.Zieler,
39.Chester,
40.Amos,
41.Macheda

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been a widely popular figure in the English Premiership for the past 10 years or so, scoring vital goals for Manchester United. Nicknamed as the baby-faced assassin, his killer instinct to finish off goals at crucial times has been pivotal to the club’s success, especially during the 1999 European Champion League Final. Furthermore, he has set a new benchmark in the English Premiership to hit two quadruples.

His legendary trademark will stay with the heart of his fans for many years ahead. Meanwhile, let us appreciate his contribution to the English football community through his message.

Ole’s Old Trafford Full Transcript Address

“Thank you, thanks. I’ve had more than a year to think about this and it’s not getting any easier.”

“Thanks, thank you very much.”

I am sure we will all miss you, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer!

It comes to no surprise when Manchester United footballer, Ryan Giggs, was awarded an honourary degree for his contribution to the sporting world and charitable causes.

The degree was a Master of Arts, conferred by the University of Salford in a ceremonry at the Lowry Theatre. Despite growing up in Salford, the Welsh winger was born in Cardiff. His achievements include over-taking Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 758 appearances for the Old Trafford football club, 10 Premiership titles, 4 FA Cups medals, 2 Champion League titles and 2 League Cups.

Congratulations, Ryan!

After 2 weeks of intense competition to negotiate the group stage of the Euro 2008 competition, the last 8 teams are now revealed; which they will proceed to the quarter-final stage of this contest. The teams that have successfully negotiated to the next stage are Croatia, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey.

The ties between these teams will be held as follow:

Amongst all of these 4 ties, the two most exciting ones to watch are likely to be Germany against Portugal, and Spain against Italy.

Portugal has topped the table (with maximum points) with Cristiano Ronaldo leading the siege against his opponent, but Germany is not to be disregarded, despite almost not able to make it to this stage.

On the other hand, Italy is somewhat the same situation as Germany and will come up against Spain, the team that topped the group stage with maximum points.