He helped Man United win the Premier League at 17 and now he plays his football in Greece

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Manchester United have famously not won the Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final campaign at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils came the closest after Ole Gunnar Solskjær achieved a second-place finish in the 2020/21 season, finishing 12 points behind winners Manchester City.

However, as all football fans will remember, Man United dominated English football throughout the Premier League era, winning 13 titles.

While the United of today are not a replica of the past, they remain the most successful side in the Premier League, despite the best efforts of their Manchester rivals.

And although Wayne Rooney named two influential players who contributed significantly to their success, there is one forgotten man still plying his trade who played a pivotal role in the 2008/09 triumph.

Federico Macheda enjoyed a dream Manchester United debut

On 5 April 2009, the Red Devils hosted Aston Villa at Old Trafford with every match a must-win clash as Ferguson was locked in an intense title race with Liverpool.

Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring on the day but goals from John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor either side of half-time threatened to leave United two points adrift at the top of the table.

Then, at the hour mark, Nani was replaced by an unknown youngster named Federico Macheda, who stepped onto the pitch for his senior debut.

Ronaldo scored his second goal to equalise but what happened next would turn the tide in the Premier League title race.

Macheda received the ball in the opposition penalty area from Ryan Giggs, spun past his defender to create space and sent a sensational curling effort past the goalkeeper in the 93rd-minute to secure the three points for United.

The 34-year-old, who currently plays for Asteras Tripolis in the Greek Super League, would be called upon once again a week later with United drawing 1-1 against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

This time, however, it took the Italian only 46 seconds after replacing Dimitar Berbatov to score the match-winner and on 16 May, after a 0-0 draw against Arsenal, they defended their Premier League title.

Federico Macheda opens up on his Manchester United career

Although the two goals Macheda scored that season will live long in the memory of every Man United supporter, he would go on to make only 36 outings in his eight-year spell with the club.

The fierce competition in the front line at Old Trafford combined with six loan spells would ultimately spell the end of his tenure in Manchester after he was released in 2014.

In an interview with Goal in 2020, Macheda said that he has no regrets on how his time with the Red Devils panned out despite never living up to the early promise.

“I don’t regret anything. Manchester United was a very beautiful experience for me and I still have many fantastic memories of my time there. Memories that I still take with me everywhere I go.”

“Of course I would have loved to play longer but I have no regrets because I gave my best, tried my hardest to excel but like everyone knows I was also a bit unlucky with injuries. After that, the club and I went separate roads and I took my own career path.”