{"id":428394,"date":"2026-02-16T09:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T09:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/428394\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T09:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T09:03:07","slug":"luke-matheson-macclesfield-defender-who-cost-1m-as-a-teenager-on-old-trafford-heroics-and-fa-cup-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/428394\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Matheson: Macclesfield defender, who cost \u00a31m as a teenager, on Old Trafford heroics and FA Cup dream"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Remember the 16-year-old who scored for Rochdale against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In September 2019, defender Luke Matheson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/49736850\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">netted a famous equaliser<\/a> at Old Trafford to force a 1-1 draw in a third-round tie that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer&#8217;s side eventually won 5-3 on penalties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The next day he was back to school studying for his A-Levels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Fast forward to 2026 and Matheson is part of a Macclesfield squad riding the crest of a wave in the FA Cup and preparing to face Brentford in the fourth round on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Silkmen have been catapulted into the public eye since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/live\/czr43x12xnrt\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">beating Crystal Palace<\/a> in the third round for one of the biggest shocks in the competition&#8217;s history &#8211; but the 23-year-old is no stranger to the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I was on the bus on the way to school the next morning with my mates,&#8221; Matheson recalled after his Old Trafford heroics. &#8220;Refreshing Instagram, there was a thousand [likes] here, another thousand there. It was one of the most surreal things I have ever been through.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I remember the actual moment of the goal, I can picture it and tell you exactly what happened. It was more the aftermath I don&#8217;t really remember. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Even being on that pitch and travelling to that game was enough for me. Then to score took it to another level. It&#8217;s definitely one of the best days of my life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Brentford will be the fourth Premier League opponent for Matheson, who also featured for Rochdale in a 1-1 home draw against Newcastle in the FA Cup in 2020, before his side lost the third-round replay 4-1 at St James&#8217; Park.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He said being remembered as the teenager who scored against Manchester United is something he is proud of, not ashamed by.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I love people coming up to me saying, &#8216;are you the kid that scored against United?&#8217; They always recognise me because of my hair,&#8221; said the Manchester-born full-back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;If that is the pinnacle of my career, it is the pinnacle of my career. Some players will dream about moments like that and I&#8217;m lucky that I got one at such a young age.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I was a kid then and have a little bit more experience now. I&#8217;ve been around different clubs, different experiences, different managers, different changing rooms.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Remember the 16-year-old who scored for Rochdale against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup? In September 2019, defender&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-428394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}