villa
he is the one of the most famous football player of world
his country is spain.
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David Villa David Villa Welcome (cropped).jpg
Personal information
Full name David Villa Sánchez[1]
Date of birth 3 December 1981 (1981-12-03) (age 28)[1]
Place of birth Tuilla, Langreo, Spain
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Barcelona
Number 7
Youth career
1991–1999 Langreo
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1999–2001 Sporting Gijón B 65 (25)
2001–2003 Sporting Gijón 80 (38)
2003–2005 Zaragoza 73 (32)
2005–2010 Valencia 166 (107)
2010– Barcelona 0 (0)
National team‡
2000–2003 Spain U21 7 (0)
2005– Spain 65 (43)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 July 2010 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 July 2010 (UTC)
This is a Spanish name; the first family name is Villa and the second is Sánchez.

David Villa Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈβið ˈβiʎa]; born 3 December 1981), nicknamed El Guaje (The Kid in Asturian),[3] is a World Cup winning Spanish footballer who currently plays as a striker for FC Barcelona[4][5] and the Spanish national football team.

Despite sustaining a serious injury as a child, he started his professional career with Sporting de Gijón and made his debut in 2000 in Spain's Segunda División. He moved to Real Zaragoza after two seasons, after a total of 38 goals and 80 appearances for Gijón. He made his La Liga debut at Zaragoza and scored 31 goals in 73 appearances in the next two seasons, winning the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España, his first senior honours. He joined Valencia CF in 2005 for a transfer fee of €12 million. He was the second highest scorer in the 2005–06 season with 25 goals, and was part of the Valencia team that won the Copa del Rey for a seventh time in the 2007–08 season. In 2010 he moved to Barcelona for €40 million.

Villa made his international debut in 2005 against San Marino. He has since participated in three major tournaments, while he was an integral member of the Spain teams that won Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He scored three goals at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, was top scorer at Euro 2008 with four goals and earned Silver Boot (though he was tied for the most goals scored in the tournament) at the 2010 World Cup with five goals. He is the second all-time scorer for Spain, trailing Raúl González's record of 44 goals.[6] Statistics (based on goal importance and the tournament they were scored in) demonstrate Villa to be the most prolific goalscorer in the world between 2005–2009, seeing the back of the net over 156 times,[7] while the IFFHS listed him 4th in the "World's Top Goal Scorer 2009" rankings,[8] while in 2010, he came 1st in their "2010's World Top Goalscorer at International Level" rankings.[9] Villa has two children with his wife Patricia and often attends charity events supported by sports personalities.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Childhood and early career
* 2 Club career
o 2.1 Sporting de Gijón and Real Zaragoza
o 2.2 Valencia
+ 2.2.1 2005–06 season
+ 2.2.2 2006–07 season
+ 2.2.3 2007–08 season
+ 2.2.4 2008–09 season
+ 2.2.5 2009–10 season
o 2.3 Barcelona
* 3 International career
o 3.1 World Cup 2006
o 3.2 Euro 2008
o 3.3 2009 Confederations Cup and World Cup 2010 qualification
o 3.4 World Cup 2010
o 3.5 Succeeding Raúl as Spain's number 7
* 4 Personal life
* 5 Statistics
o 5.1 Club
o 5.2 International statistics
+ 5.2.1 International appearances
+ 5.2.2 International goals
* 6 Honours
o 6.1 Club
o 6.2 Country
o 6.3 Individual
* 7 Notes
* 8 References
* 9 External links

[edit] Childhood and early career

David Villa was born on 3 December 1981, the son of a miner,[10] in Tuilla, a small village in Langreo, Asturias, a region in northern Spain. His professional career was put in jeopardy when he suffered a fracture to his femur, but made a complete recovery.[11]

Due to the injury to his right leg, he and his father José Manuel Villa worked on strengthening his left leg and he ultimately became an ambidextrous footballer.[12] He recalls his father being consistently supportive: "He would be there throwing me the ball over and over, making me kick it with my left leg when my right was in plaster after breaking it, I was four. I can barely remember a single training session when my dad wasn't there. I have never been alone on a football pitch."

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.[10] "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."[10][13] He went on to begin his footballing career at UP Langreo and when he turned 17 he joined the Mareo football school.[12]
[edit] Club career
[edit] Sporting de Gijón and Real Zaragoza

Villa attracted interest from many Asturian teams, but one of the province's bigger teams, Real Oviedo, declared that he was too short[14] and that they did not believe he had sufficient potential.[15] He subsequently got his professional breakthrough at his local club Sporting de Gijón, following in the footsteps of his childhood idol Quini.[12] Starting out at the team's youth ranks, he made his first-team debut in the 2000–01 season. After scoring 25 goals in two seasons, he became a first team regular.[15] Pepe Acebal, the Sporting Gijon manager at the time, said that Villa initially lacked the stamina to have a real impact and had to be given his chance bit by bit and that Villa's capacity for work was "unrivalled".[14]

"He had great technical qualities. His first touch was superb and, although you can never be sure someone will make it, you could tell he was talented. He makes very clever diagonal runs, breaking away from defenders, and he invariably made the right decisions. He is very intuitive."
–Pepe Acebal, former Sporting Gijón manager[14]

With his goal tally nearly reaching 40 goals after spending two full seasons in Gijón's main team,[16] 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.[13][15] The striker had no trouble adapting to playing at the higher level, netting 17 times in his first season at Zaragoza.[7] His league debut 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[17] 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.[18] 4 December 2003 saw him net his first brace (2 goals) in a 2–2 draw against Athletic Bilbao[19] 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.[20]

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.[12] 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.[21]

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.[22] 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.[23] On 17 April 2005, Villa scored a brace which helped see off Sevilla in a 3–0 victory.[24]
[edit] Valencia
[edit] 2005–06 season

After his success at Zaragoza, the team was in need of money,[13] as a result, Villa made his big move to one of Spanish football's heavyweights, as a new look Valencia under Quique Sánchez Flores parted with €12 million to secure his services in the summer of 2005.[16] During his first game in a Valencia shirt, an Intertoto Cup match against Belgian outfit K.A.A. Gent, Villa scored the first goal in a game which Valencia won 2–0.[25] He made his league debut for Valencia coming on as a substitute against Real Betis in a 1–0 win on 27 August 2005.[26] The next match would see his previous team, Real Zaragoza, leading 2–1 for the majority of the match, however, on the 81st minute, Villa came on as a late substitute for Rubén Baraja and scored the equalizer within the space of a minute, earning Valencia a point as the game ended 2–2.[27]

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.[28][29] On 23 October, Villa scored the winning goal against another Spanish giant, this time Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium[30] and 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.[31] 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".[14] Hitting the ball from the half way line (50 yards out) it sailed over the keepers head and into the net.[32]

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.[10] That season saw him score 25 goals in 35 league matches for Valencia,[7] 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.[33][dead link]
[edit] 2006–07 season

Villa's form continued into the 2006–07 season, with the striker forming a partnership up front with former Real Madrid star Fernando Morientes. Between them, Villa and Morientes netted 43 goals in all competitions.[7][34] That year also saw Villa debut in the UEFA Champions League; his first match was a qualifying match, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 first leg loss against Red Bull Salzburg. He went on to start the second leg and scored in a 3–0 win which saw Valencia qualify for the Champions League group stages.[35] Crucial goals against Roma[36] and Shakhtar Donetsk[37] helped Valencia qualify for the knock out stages where they faced Inter Milan. Villa scored a free kick goal in the first leg away from home, while one of Inter's defenders complained that Villa had "made us look like idiots, all on his own".[14][38] Valencia went through to the quarter finals where they faced Chelsea. Villa featured in both games but failed to make the score sheet. Valencia subsequently got knocked out by the London team 3–2 on aggregate.[39] In October 2006 he was included among the 50 nominees for the Ballon d'Or (often referred to as the European Footballer of the Year Award).[40]

A crucial goal against Espanyol[41] and a brace against Sevilla[42] helped 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)[43] while he created more assists than anyone.[14]
[edit] 2007–08 season
David Villa after scoring a penalty against Sevilla.

The 2007–08 season was not easy for Villa nor for his teammates. Early in the season, their manager, Quique Sánchez Flores, was fired and replaced by Ronald Koeman. Koeman was then fired on the 22 April, after a run of poor results, even though he managed to win a trophy with Valencia, as Valencia beat Getafe CF in the Copa del Rey-final. Koeman got replaced by the highly rated UD Almería coach, Unai Emery, at the end of the season.[44] Under Koeman, Villa managed to see the back of the net 18 times in his 26 appearances.[7][12] He also won the first professional trophy of his Valencia spell, winning the Copa del Rey for the second time in his career, beating Barcelona 3–2 in the semi-finals and then Getafe CF 3–1 in the final.[45] giving the team a place in the UEFA Cup.[12] By the end of the season he signed a new six-year contract with Valencia, committing his future to the club until 2014.[46]

That season, Villa once again saw himself playing Champions League football. He scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Schalke 04[47] and went on to put Valencia 1–0 up against Chelsea, however, goals from Joe Cole and Didier Drogba saw Valencia lose 2–1.[48] 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.[49] Another two goals on the final day of the season against Atletico Madrid completed his tally of 18 goals that season.[7]