Thursday, June 26, 2008

David Villa Out of Final


Spain coach Luis Aragones says David Villa will miss Sunday's Euro 2008 against Germany.

The Valencia striker was forced out of Thursday's 3-0 victory over Russia on 34 minutes after pulling a leg muscle.

Villa, who helped himself to a hat-trick in Spain's 4-1 group success over Russia, will now sit out the final in Vienna.

"Villa won't be playing in the final. He suffered a muscle strain," confirmed Aragones after their semi-final success.

David Villa is still a top scorer in Euro 2008 with four goals. The absent of the Spain hit-man open a chance for German striker Lukas Podolski to get a golden ball, an award for top scorer in this cup.

Villa's place in the side could well be taken by Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas, who impressed off the bench in their semi-final triumph over Russia.

Villa came off after 35 minutes to be replaced by Cesc Fabregas after appearing to injure himself taking a free kick. Sunday's final will be played at the Ernst Happel stadium.

Born at 3 December 1981, in Langreo, the Asturias region in Northern Spain, Villa got his professional breakthrough at his local club Sporting de Gijón, for whom he made his first-team debut in the 2000–01 season.

Real Zaragoza bought him in the summer of 2003, and Villa led his new club to a Copa del Rey victory scoring the winning goal against Real Madrid.

Soon after he earned his first international call-up and cap, Valencia decided to take a chance on him and parted with €12 million (£8.2 million) to secure his services in the summer of 2005.

Villa made his national debut on 9 February 2005 in Almeria. It was a match between Spain and San Marino in which Spain won 5–0.

Villa was included in Spain's 23 man squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, and was favoured over the more established striker Raúl, to line up alongside Fernando Torres in the opening match against Ukraine. And he made his first World Cup finals appearance scoring twice against Ukraine.

Source: skysports.com, iht.com, wikipedia.org

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