Federico Macheda? - United wonder kid

Macheda has taken the fame in a spectacular fashion .The 17-year-old Italian announced his arrival in English football with a dramatic and decisive injury-time curler, which gave Manchester United a 3-2 win and took them back to the top of the Premier League table above Liverpool.

Macheda was born in Rome in 1991 and began his footballing life at Lazio, where he would have stayed had it not been for Italian football regulations, which prevented under-18s signing professional terms. His nickname among his team-mates is simply 'Kiko'. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson spotted his potential early and named him in this season's UEFA Champions League squad. Macheda was rewarded for his match-winning display at the weekend by being named in the squad to play Porto on Tuesday.

Under the guidance of former United striker Ole Gunnnar Solskjaer - now reserve coach for the reigning Premier League champions - Macheda began getting to grips with English football.He started in the youth team, but, under Solskjaer's tutelage, had been promoted to the reserves this season, scoring eight goals in eight games, including a hat-trick against Newcastle in March.Those three goals, coupled with Dimitar Berbatov's lay-off because of an ankle injury and Wayne Rooney's suspension, led to Macheda being promoted to the first team against Villa.

he striker has already won silverware during his brief time at Old Trafford, winning the Northern Ireland Milk Cup in 2008 and the Manchester Senior Cup in 2007/08.