10 Best Premier League Moments for Manchester United in 2008-2009

After winning the club World Cup on December 21 over the Ecuadorian football club LDU Quito, Manchester United had to play a Boxing Day match five days later against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

But Man Utd. refused to give up because of jet lag or the fact that they didn't have Rio Ferdinand, and they continued fighting.

Throughout the game, Stoke was equal to them, but United continued to fight on and in the 83rd minute, Carlos Tevez found the back of the net and gave United a 1-0 lead, which is the score that they won the game by.

On May 13, Man Utd. played an extremely important game against Wigan Athletic Club, and if United won, all that they would have to do is get a draw on the coming Saturday against Arsenal.

However, Wigan was determined not to let United win, and they scored an early goal by Hugo Rodallega to give them a 1-0 lead. But in the second half, Man Utd. came to life, as Sir Alex Ferguson replaced Anderson for Carlos Tevez in the 58th minute, and within three minutes, Tevez scored with his heel on a shot by Michael Carrick.

United went on to win the game in the 87th minute as Carrick put the ball into the back of the net, and now they only needed to gain one more point to win their third straight Premier League.

On February 21, Manchester United played the Blackburn Rovers in Old Trafford in an extremely important matchup for both teams, as Blackburn needed to get out of the relegation zone, and United wanted to gain a bigger lead in the Premier League.

After a goal by Wayne Rooney, United went up 1-0, but in the 32nd minute, Roque Santa Cruz beat the United defense and put the ball behind Tomasz Kuszczak, ending United's run of 1,334 minutes in League Play without conceding a goal.

But after a free kick was awarded to United just outside the box, Cristiano Ronaldo took the free kick, and the ball rose over Blackburn keeper Paul Robinson, and found the back of the net giving United a 2-1 lead, which is the score that they won the game by.

After former Man Utd. Roy Keane's stunning departure from Sunderland just days before the game, Man Utd. and Sunderland met at Old Trafford in Ricky Sbragia's first game as the Sunderland manager.

Throughout the first half, United continued to pepper the Sunderland goal with shots, but Hungurian keeper Marton Fulop was equal to the challenges on the net.

After Carlos Tevez was introduced as a substitute, United started playing better, but still had no goals.

As the game went into stoppage time, Michael Carrick ran down toward the goal, but he hit the post—which caused the ball to go to Nemanja Vidic as he tapped the ball into an empty net, and secured an important three points for the Red Devils.

In yet another important match at the end of the season, Manchester United went into the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland.

Early on, Paul Scholes gave United a 1-0 lead after a brilliant cross from Wayne Rooney allowed him to put it into the net. However, Sunderland never gave up and in the 55th minute, Kenwyne Jones gave his team the lead on an empty net goal against Ben Foster.

Man Utd. knew that they couldn't give up this game in this title race and went back onto the attack, but to no prevail. Then in the 75th minute, Dimitar Berbatov got substituted for by rising star Federico Macheda (who just scored a dramatic game winning goal earlier in the week) in the 75th minute.

Within seconds of coming into the game, Macheda tipped a Michael Carrick shot past Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon, which gave United an important 2-1 win and three more points in the title race.

In the Manchester Derby on Nov. 30, between Manchester United and Manchester City, United won 1-0 in another thrilling game between the two rivals.

However, the game meant more than it did in previous years, as City now had rich owners and just signed Brazilian international Robinho. However, United weren't intimidated by them and continued to fight against City.

In the 42nd minute, Michael Carrick fired a shot that City keeper Joe Hart couldn't handle, and it gave Wayne Rooney an empty net to shoot at...and he scored.

Despite Cristiano Ronaldo's Red Card in the 68th minute, United remained resilient and won the match.

In their second matchup since last year's Champions League final in Moscow, Chelsea and Man Utd. met in their second matchup between each other that year (previously, they had a one all draw at Stamford Bridge in October).

Throughout the first half, the game was chippy, but both teams had their chances to score. Then in stoppage time in the first half, Wayne Rooney played the ball to Ryan Giggs, who crossed it to Cristiano Ronaldo and scored, but the referee never saw it and they had to do it again.

However, this wasn't a problem for Man Utd as Giggs fed the ball to Dimitar Berbatov, who flicked the ball to Nemanja Vidic, who put the ball into the net, and gave United a 1-0 lead going to halftime.

United then had goals by Rooney and Berbatov in the second half and convincingly beat Chelsea 3-0.

On January 17, at the Reebok Stadium, the Bolton Wanderers played host to Manchester United. United, which had nine consecutive clean sheets going into the match, looked to win this game as they would take over first in the league table.

However, during the first half, United's attack was lackluster as they weren't able to get any strong opportunities on net. As the second half began, Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen put on a show as he continued to stop Cristiano Ronaldo on several great opportunities.

But as the game went into stoppage time, United scored another one of their famous goals at the end of the game as recent addition Dimitar Berbatov knocked a header from Carlos Tevez into the back of the net, giving United a 1-0 lead, which is the score that they won by.

Also, United took over first in the league table as Liverpool wasn't able to beat rival Everton at home, and United tied Chelsea's Premier League record of 10 consecutive clean sheets.

On April 25, Tottenham came to Old Trafford to play against Man Utd in yet another important game for United in the title race.

But the Spurs decided early that they weren't going to give into United as Darren Bent and Luka Modric both scored in the first half to give the Spurs a 2-0 lead going into the half.

But after Carlos Tevez came into the game replacing Nani, United started to play better football, and they got a favorable decision from referee Howard Webb after Michael Carrick was allegedly tripped in the box by Spurs' keeper Heurelho Gomes, which caused the entire complexion of the game to change once Cristiano Ronaldo took and scored the penalty in the 57th minute to make it 2-1.

Within the next 22 minutes, United showed why they are the best team in England as they got two goals from Wayne Rooney, another goal from Ronaldo off a brilliant cross from Rooney, (afterward, he took off his shirt and began to celebrate, which caused him to be given a yellow card), and a strike by Dimitar Berbatov against his old team, which ensured the United win as they won the game 5-2 in one of the best 45 minute stretches of the entire season.

However, there may not be any better game or moment for United in any competition this season than what happened on Apr. 5, as United played one great game vs Aston Villa at Old Trafford.

Early in the game, Cristiano Ronaldo scored off a Ryan Giggs pass to make it 1-0 for United, but Villa came back as John Carew headed a ball into the back of the net to tie the game at one, and in the 58th minute, Gabriel Agbonlahor scored on a strike into the bottom corner to give Villa a 2-1 lead.

But Sir Alex Ferguson decided to put in a 17 year old Italian named Federico Macheda into his first ever match for Manchester United as a substitute for Nani in the 61st minute, and United then started to go onto the attack.

It took them 19 minutes, but Ronaldo somehow found a place for the ball to go beyond Villa keeper Brad Friedel, and into the back of the net to tie the game at two in the 80th minute.

After Danny Welbeck came in for Carlos Tevez in the 88th minute, it appeared that the game would end in a two all draw, and United wouldn't retake over the league table over Liverpool that day.

But, after five minutes were added onto the game, United had more time to work with, and they made the time count as Macheda received a pass from Giggs in the third minute of stoppage time, and he curved the ball beyond Friedel while falling down, as he scored the goal, and gave United an unlikely 3-2 lead.

Macheda's life changed forever after this goal as he instantly became an Old Trafford hero, and his goal won the game for United by a 3-2 score.

This game completely changed United's season, and without this goal, there would be a good chance that United wouldn't have won the Premier League this year.