| Full name | David Villa Sánchez | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 3 December 1981 | ||
| Place of birth | Langreo, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
David Villa Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈβið ˈβiʎa]; born 3 December 1981), nicknamed El Guaje (The Kid in Asturian), is a Spanish footballer who currently plays as a striker for FC Barcelonaand the Spanish national football team.
Despite sustaining a serious injury as a child, he started his professional career with Sporting de Gijón. He moved to Real Zaragoza after two seasons, where he made his La Liga début, winning his first senior honours - the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España. He joined Valencia CF in 2005 for a transfer fee of €12 million and was part of the Valencia team that won the Copa del Rey in the 2007–08 season. In 2010 he moved to FC Barcelona for €40 million.
Villa made his international début in 2005. He has since participated in three major tournaments, becoming an integral member of the Spain teams that won Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He scored three goals at the 2006 World Cup, was top scorer at Euro 2008 and earned Silver Boot at the 2010 World Cup. With 44 goals, Villa is Spain's joint all-time top goalscorer with Raúl González and has also scored more World Cup goals than any other player in Spain's history.His goals-to-games ratio at World Cup matches is higher than the competition's all-time top scorer, Ronaldo, while the goals-to-games ratio he has achieved for the national team has not been matched by any player since Alfredo Di Stéfano.
Childhood and early career
Villa admitted that he came close to giving up football at the age of 14 after growing disillusioned and falling out with his coach. However, thanks to his parents' encouragement, he persisted in pursuing his dream, realising his talent could earn him a living "In those days I was a nobody, not earning a penny and after being made to sit on the bench all season I just wanted to get away and play with my friends" he said. "But my dad always supported me and cheered me up until my career turned round."He went on to begin his footballing career at UP Langreo and when he turned 17 he joined the Mareo football school.
Club career
Sporting de Gijón and Real Zaragoza
With his goal tally nearly reaching 40 goals after spending two full seasons in Gijón's main team,Villa ultimately got his chance in Spain's top-flight when Sporting were in financial difficulty and newly promoted Real Zaragoza signed him for approximately €3 million in the summer of 2003.The striker had no trouble adapting to playing at the higher level, netting 17 times in his first season at Zaragoza. His league début came during Zaragoza's first La Liga game since his arrival where the team were defeated 1–0 away from home at the hands of Galician side Deportivo de La Coruña while his first goal came two games later, an eighth minute goal against Real Murcia which put Zaragoza 2–0 up in a match which ended 3–0.4 December 2003 saw him net his first brace (2 goals) in a 2–2 draw against Athletic Bilbao and on 25 April 2004, David Villa scored his first hat-trick in a tight 4–4 draw against Sevilla which saw Villa score all four of Zaragoza's goals, putting his team ahead on two occasions.
Zaragoza reached the 2004 Copa del Rey final where he played a big part in the team's victory, scoring a crucial goal to put the Aragonese outfit 2–1 up against Real Madrid in a match which eventually ended 3–2. Soon after he earned his first international call-up and cap which resulted in Zaragoza fans becoming so proud of his achievements, they invented the football chant "illa illa illa, Villa maravilla" which is a play on the words "Villa" and "maravilla" which is as "marvel" but can also mean "wonderful" or "great" in that context.After Zaragoza's triumph in the Copa del Rey, they were granted a place in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup; this was Villa's first time playing in a European competition.
In the team's opening group game against Utrecht, Villa netted a brace in the dying minutes of the game which subsequently ended 2–0 in Zaragoza's favour. In the round of 16, Zaragoza faced Austria Wien. The first leg ended 1–1, Villa scored in the second leg, however, the match ended 2–2 which saw the team from Vienna go through to the next stage on the away goals rule. Meanwhile, in La Liga, Villa excited Zaragoza fans on 23 September 2004 by putting the team 1–0 up against Barcelona at the Camp Nou, however, it was not to be as Barcelona came back to win the game 4–1. On 17 April 2005, Villa scored a brace which helped see off Sevilla in a 3–0 victory.
Valencia
2005–06 season
On 21 September, Villa would once again save Valencia a vital point by netting a brace against Barcelona at Camp Nou, actually giving his team the lead at one point after Víctor Valdés' clearance rebounded off Villa's back and into the net.On 23 October, Villa scored the winning goal against another Spanish giant, this time Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadiumand would once again score against Barcelona, on 12 February 2006, his one goal proving enough to secure all three points in a 1–0 victory.Villa scored a goal against Deportivo de La Coruña (at the Riazor on 4 February 2006), described as "superb" by ESPN and "his best" by Sid Lowe who went on to credit it even more pointing out he achieved it "on the turn". Hitting the ball from the half way line (50 yards out) it sailed over the keepers head and into the net.
He scored his first hat-trick for Valencia against Athletic Bilbao at San Mamés in La Liga on the 23 April 2006. Villa managed the hat-trick in just over five minutes (80th to the 85th minute) making it one of the quickest hat-tricks ever recorded. Valencia won that game 3–0.That season saw him score 25 goals in 35 league matches for Valencia, finishing one goal behind the league's top scorer Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona. Villa's goal tally that year was the best that any Valencia player had ever achieved since Edmundo Suárez over 60 years beforehand.
2006–07 season
A crucial goal against Espanyoland a brace against Sevillahelped him reach 16 goals that season and would see him come 6th in La Liga's top scorer list that season (scoring the same amount of goals as fellow international Raúl Tamudo)while he created more assists than anyone.
2007–08 season
That season, Villa once again saw himself playing Champions League football. He scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Schalke 04and went on to put Valencia 1–0 up against Chelsea, however, goals from Joe Cole and Didier Drogba saw Valencia lose 2–1.Valencia finished bottom of the group and were knocked out. On his 100th league appearance for Valencia, Villa scored a hat-trick against Levante; his 54th, 55th and 56th league goals for the club.Another two goals on the final day of the season against Atletico Madrid completed his tally of 18 goals that season.
2008–09 season
Valencia finished second in their UEFA Cup group, however, Villa was not featured heavily and was often an unused sub or a late sub. He scored a late winner against Maritimoand was used in the Round of 32 against Dynamo Kyiv, however, he did not make the score sheet. The two legs resulted in a 3–3 aggregate score, Dynamo Kyiv went through as the away goal rule went in their favour.
Hitting a consistent goal scoring form during mid season, he scored against Deportivo de la Coruña; however, he was sent off during the match after his second yellow card, received due to a foul on Daniel Aranzubiaand as a result missed Valencia's next match against Real Valladolid, a game which Valencia lost 2–1 at home. Ready to return from suspension, Villa suffered from an inflammation in the joint in his left knee due to a partial dislocation and would be out for the next 15 days, missing games against Numancia, Recreativo de Huelva and Racing de Santander.When he finally returned from injury on 5 April 2009, he had no trouble recovering form, netting a brace in a match against Getafe, which Valencia won 4–1.On 12 April, Villa was set to return to El Molinón, the home ground of Sporting de Gijón where he started his career. He admitted that the encounter would be very emotional for him but went on to score the second Valencia goal in a 3–2 win and kept a pre-match promise by not celebrating the goal.His goal against Villarreal brought his tally to 26, he then scored another two against Athletic Bilbao finishing with 28 goals after the last game of the season, thus equalling records set by the Argentinian Mario Kempes and the Montenegrin Predrag Mijatović, who also scored 28 goals in a Valencia shirt in 1978 and 1996, respectively. Kempes reached his tally of 28 goals in 34 games while Mijatović achieved it in 40, ultimately seeing Villa beat their percentages, as he achieved the 28 goals in 33 games, recording a goal ratio of 0.84 goals per game. That season saw Villa's best season at Valencia as far as goal scoring is concerned.
With the season over Villa had marked his fourth year at Valencia, with only Eto'o scoring more goals than him in that period (six more). British columnist Sid Lowe points out that Eto'o achieved this "in a team that racked up 129 [goals] more than Villa's side" and noted that "most of that time he [Villa] has taken Valencia's corners and free-kicks – and however good a player is he can't head in his own crosses."Villa also ended the season as the third top scorer in La Liga with a total of 28 goals, just behind Samuel Eto'o (30) and Diego Forlán (32). After recording the best goal tally for a Valencia player in 60 years back in the 2005–06 season, he went three better in the 2008–09 season. The 28 league goals plus 3 more in other competitions that season, acumulated a total of 101 goals in 180 official games with the Valencian outfit.
2009–10 season
On 20 August 2009, Villa scored in his first official match of the season, a 3–0 UEFA Europa League qualifer against Stabæk. He followed this up with two goals against Real Valladolid on 13 September, these were Villa's first league goals of the 2009–10 season.He scored twice more a week later against former club Sporting Gijón in a 2–2 draw at the Mestalla where he performed duties as the team's captain. After the match, Villa hinted towards being unhappy with Unai Emery's managerial decisions, stating "The approach for the second half was not right. We relaxed and ended up with the same result as last year. What has happened, has happened, but their goalkeeper was good, unlike our approach, which was not good",however, a day later he denied being critical of Emery pointing out that "When I talked about the approach, I was referring to the whole team, I spoke in the heat of the moment, I was annoyed at the way we lost two points and I said what I thought, but I have clarified everything that needed to be cleared up."
In 2009 he scored more goals than any other footballer, 43 goals in 54 games across all competitions for Spain and Valencia. The IFFHS listed him 4th in the "World's Top Goal Scorer 2009" rankings.
On 18 October, Villa was nominated for the Ballon D'Or,while nearly two weeks later, on 30 October, he was nominated for the FIFA World Player Of The Year.After going three league games without scoring, Villa contributed two goals towards Valencia's 4–1 victory against Villarreal on 17 January 2010, the first of his two goals became his 100th league goal with Valencia. Another brace came against Getafe on 22 February 2010, the second goal being "a superb chip" (as described by ESPN) over Jordi Codina.On 18 March, Valencia went to the Weserstadion to play Werder Bremen in the Europa League. Villa scored a hat-trick, his third goal being of note, which was fired in from eight yards out. The match ended 4–4 while Valencia proceeded to the next round on away goals.On May 4, 2010, Valencia played Xerez, Villa did not start but came on as a substitute 62 minutes into the match, which ended 3-1. Valencia still had two more games to play in the league, however, Villa did not feature, making the game against Xerez the last time he played for Valencia.
Barcelona
2010–11 season
Villa signed on a four year contract with Barcelona, with the option for a fifth, worth a reported €7 million per season and thus, managed to follow in the footsteps of his heroes, Luis Enrique and Quini, both of whom, like Villa, started out at Sporting Gijón and ended up at Barcelona.On 21 May 2010, over 35,000 Barcelona supporters packed into Camp Nou to see Villa's presentation, where he revealed the kit Barcelona would use during the 2010-11 season. He was given his favourite number 7, a number which had been free at the club since Eiður Guðjohnsen left in 2009.
He made his first appearance for the club in the 2nd leg of the Supercopa de España, during the second half as a substitute for fellow Spain international, Pedro. His début appearance would also see him win his first piece of silver-ware with the Catalonian side, as Barcelona won 5-3 on aggregate due to a hat-trick by teammate Lionel Messi.His first goal came during the Joan Gamper Trophy (an annual friendly competition) against AC Milan. Barcelona won 3-1 on penalties (after the match had ended 1-1 during normal time).
On 29 August 2010, Villa made his La Liga début with Barcelona against Racing de Santander, where he scored the third goal of the match to help seal a 3-0 victory. On 14 September 2010, Villa scored on his Champions League début with Barcelona in a 5-1 victory over Panathinaikos F.C.
Against Sevilla, on 31 October 2010, Barcelona won 5-0 against the Andalusian side, while Villa netted a brace. His first goal that match was voted "The Best Goal Of The Week (October 25–31)" by the readers of Goal.com. Villa's first "El Clásico" came on 29 November 2010, he scored two goals as Barcelona won 5-0 at the Camp Nou. Talking about the match, he commented that, "It's been a very important win. We looked for the victory and we got it. And the result and the manner in which we achieved it, you cannot ask for more.". He then scored a goal against Real Sociedad, a match Barcelona won 5-0. He followed with a brace against R.C.D. Espanyol taking Barcelona to a 1-5 win.
On 27 December 2010, Villa was named "Male Athlete of the Year" by the United States Sports Academy, as he edged fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal and previous winner Manny Pacquiao for the title.
International career
2006 World Cup
A successful season with Valencia saw him get called up as part of the 23-man squad to represent Spain at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Spain's first match at the tournament and Villa's World Cup début resulted in a 4–0 win against Ukraine where Villa netted a brace,and also put his nation 1–0 up against France in the Round of 16, although Spain went on to lose the match 3–1.He and Fernando Torres finished as Spain's top scorers with three goals each.
Euro 2008
Reaching their first semi-final in 24 years, Spain went on to face Russia for the second time during the tournament, however, during the early stages of the match, Villa sustained a thigh injury after taking a free kick and was replaced by Cesc Fàbregas. The injury meant that he could not participate in the final where Spain beat Germany 1–0 to claim their second win at the European Football Championships. Despite missing the final and the majority of the semi-final, Villa's 4 goals in the 4 games he played were enough for him to be top scorer of the tournamentand was awarded the Golden Boot.He also made the UEFA Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament alongside striking partner Torres.
2009 Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup qualification
On 1 June 2009, Vicente del Bosque named Villa in his 23 man squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.In a friendly match before the tournament, Villa scored his second international hat-trick against Azerbaijan, nearly exactly a year after his hat-trick against Russia at Euro 2008.He débuted at the Confederations Cup with a goal, the last of the five goals in Spain's 5–0 victory over New Zealand,while in the next game he scored the decisive goal against a defensive Iraqi team.Against South Africa, he missed a penalty, but within a minute made up for the miss by putting Spain ahead, helping them equal the records of most consecutive wins and most consecutive matches undefeated before making way for Pablo Hernández. The goal was his last of the tournament but was enough to see him win the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Shoe, he would also go on to make the team of the tournament.
Villa earned his 50th cap during a friendly against the Republic of Macedonia in a match where Spain won 3–2.
On 5 September 2009, Villa added two more goals to his goal tally for Spain, while assisting twice during the World Cup Qualifier against Belgium, in A Coruña. The match ended 5–0 to Spain where Villa also had a first-half penalty saved by the 30 year old A.S. Bari goalkeeper Jean-Francois Gillet.He finished the year with his sixth international brace against Austria in the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, the setting where Spain were crowned European Champions the previous year. With these two goals, Villa equalled the record he set last year of most goals scored in one calendar year by a Spanish international. Spain's first match in 2010 came on March 3, against France at the Stade de France. Villa scored the opening goal in a game which Spain went on to win 2–0.
2010 World Cup
In Spain's first 2010 World Cup match, Villa was chosen as a lone striker, but could do nothing to prevent their shock defeat at the hands of Switzerland Five days later, Spain defeated Honduras 2-0, where Villa scored both goals, but wasted his chance to complete a hat-trick when he was awarded a penalty kick - side-footing the ball just wide of the post.It was the first time in fourteen attempts Spain ever missed a penalty in a World Cup during the run of play. In the same game, Villa was shown to slap Emilio Izaguirre in the face after the Honduran player trod on him. Villa said he was "not proud" of the heat of the moment incident, but he escaped a ban.Villa helped secure Spain's place in the round of 16 after scoring the first goal in a 2-1 win over Chile, with a long-range shot into an empty net after Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo ran out of his area to prevent Torres from scoring.The goal would become his 6th goal in FIFA World Cup matches, becoming Spain's all time top scorer at the World Cup finals, ahead of Emilio Butragueño, Fernando Hierro, Fernando Morientes and Raúl González, all of whom have five. Spain were up against Portugal in the round of 16, Villa would prove to be vital once again, as Xavi backheeled an Andrés Iniesta pass to the on-rushing Villa who hit the back of the net on the rebound after having his first shot saved by Eduardo, proving enough to give Spain a place in the quarter-finals against Paraguay,where Villa scored a goal from a rebound after Pedro hit the post. Once again, Villa's goal proved to be the difference as the match finished 1-0, while Spain booked a game with Germany in the semi-finals, where Spain recorded yet another 1-0 victory with the only goal coming from Carles Puyol.
Villa started in the final against the Netherlands, where he had an opportunity to score from close range, but was impeded by John Heitinga who managed to block his shot. Villa would eventually make way for Torres after 106 minutes on the pitch. Spain became world champions as they went on to win the match 1-0, while Villa was awarded the Silver Shoe, with the Gold Shoe going to Thomas Müller, both players had five goals, however, Müller had more assists. He was subsequently named in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team.
Euro 2012 qualifying
Succeeding Raúl as Spain's number 7
In February 2010, Bernd Schuster was asked if Raúl did not favour Villa moving to Real Madrid, to which he responded with "I have a cough", this caused many to believe that he was implying the rumour to be true.Villa firmly ridiculed that idea by saying "It is impossible that a player with as much class on and off the pitch as Raúl would speak poorly of me. I have always had a good relationship with Raúl, even though we have hardly met on international duty."
Speaking of Raúl's record with the Spanish national team as the nation's leading top scorer, Villa said, "I've got 25 goals but he's got 44 and is still playing. I'd be delighted to reach that tally as I'd help the national team achieve great victories and, in many years' time, I could see my name on a [scorers' list] that another young lad was trying to beat. That would be great."two years after making that remark - on October 12, 2010 - Villa scored a penalty goal against Scotland to become Spain's joint top goalscorer next to Raúl.[130]
Personal life
In 2003 Villa married his childhood sweetheart Patricia González (who had also been a footballer in her teenage years).They had a daughter who they named Zaida.Her name is engraved on his personalised Adidas F50's,while one boot bears the Spanish flag, the other has the Asturian flag.In 2009, his second daughter Olaya was born, named after the wife of Fernando Torres, who is a close friend of Patricia.His footballing idols are Luis Enrique and Quini
Villa frequently attends charity events.He is actively involved with the campaigns of the UNICEF charity.
Beginning in July 2008, a "David Villa Camp" is held annually, where children receive training from professional footballers. Villa also participates in a training session with the children.
Villa featured on the Spanish box art for video game FIFA 07.
Music
In 2010 he sang alongside Grammy Award-nominated Spanish singer Ana Torroja on the song "Insurrection" by El Último de la Fila. The recording was made for the beneficiary project Voces X1FIN, to help raise money to build an art and education school in Mali. Villa commented that footballers "are an example for society and we have to be ready to get involved in these projects, where we can help people who needHonours
Club
- Real Zaragoza
- Copa del Rey: 1
- Valencia
- Copa del Rey: 1
- Barcelona
Country
- Spain
Individual
- Awards
- Don Balón Award (Spanish Player of the Year): 2005-06
- Zarra Trophy: 2005-06, 2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10
- UEFA Euro 2008 Golden Boot
- UEFA Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament
- Man of the Match Spain vs Russia, Spain vs Sweden Euro 2008
- 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Shoe
- 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Team of the Tournament.
- 2010 FIFA World Cup Silver Shoe
- 2010 FIFA World Cup Bronze Ball
- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2010
- Man of the Match Spain vs Honduras World Cup 2010
- Male Athlete of the Year: 2010
- FIFPro World XI: 2010
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2010
- Achievements
- Valencia Top Scorer: 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10
- La Liga's Top Assisting Player: 2006-07[14]
- Spain all time top scorer: 44 goals
- Spain's all time top scorer in FIFA World Cup matches
- Most goals scored in one World Cup (by a Spanish international): 5
- Most goals scored in one calendar year (by a Spanish international): 12 (2008, 2009)
- Largest streak of games having scored (by a Spanish international): 6
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