David Villa
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David Villa Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈβið ˈβiʎa]; born 3 December 1981), nicknamed El Guaje (The Kid in Asturian), is a Spanish footballer who plays as a striker for Barcelona and Spain. 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 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 second 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: 2006 World Cup, Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He scored three goals at the 2006 World Cup and was top scorer at Euro 2008 with four goals. He is the second all-time scorer for Spain, trailing Raul González's record of 44 goals. 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, while the IFFHS listed him 4th in the "World's Top Goal Scorer 2009" rankings. Villa has two children with his wife Patricia and often attends charity events supported by sports personalities. David Villa was born on 3 December 1981, the son of a miner, 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. 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. 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
Childhood and early career