Manchester United captain Gary Neville says the club's senior players have noticed the rapid improvement of Federico Macheda in recent months.

The 17 year-old Italian striker struck the winner against Aston Villa last night and Neville told MUTV: "It was really important for us to get back to winning ways after losing the last two matches.

"We needed the young lads today. I thought both Danny Welbeck and Kiko [Federico Macheda] handled things really well, especially Kiko. The way he held the ball up when he came on was brilliant and it was a very mature performance from the lad.

"He's made a massive improvement in the last couple of months. He's very strong and he's got an ice-cool head in front of goal. For a young player to have that is very rare. It's an unbelievable moment for him and we're all very grateful to him.

"Who knows how important that goal will be? It's certainly given us a massive lift."