David Villa has won La Liga titles, a World Cup with Spain and a UEFA Champions league. Villa has also lit up the Hyundai A-League so far, scoring two goals in two. But there are 10 things you may not know about the ex-Valencia, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid forward.
1) In 2010, Villa sang a song alongside Grammy Award-nominated Spanish singer Ana Torroja. The recording of the song “Insurrection” was made to help raise money to build a school in Mali.
2) Villa may be a big-money superstar now but he came from humble beginnings, the son of a miner born in a small village in Asturias, Spain called Tuilla.
3) His football career almost never happened due to a fracture to his femur in his right leg when he was just four-years-old. Lucky for Villa he eventually made a full recovery and due strengthening his left leg while injured, he became ambidextrous.
4) Villa began his youth footballing career at UP Langreo before getting his first professional contract at Sporting Gijon. He joined Gijon after one of his local club’s Real Oviedo, weren’t interested declaring Villa wasn’t talented enough and was too short.
5) Villa’s big break came when he joined Real Zaragoza, helping the club win the Copa Del Rey (Spanish Cup) in 2004 ensuring the club a spot in the next season’s UEFA Cup. In the side’s opening group game, Villa’s first in a European competition, he scored a brace in the last few minutes to help the side to a 2-0 win over FC Utrecht.
6) Villa married his childhood sweetheart Patricia Gonzalez in 2003 and they have three children together, Zaida, Luca and Olaya. Villa has the names of his children engraved into his playing boots, as well as the Spanish and Asturias flags.
7) He began a special ‘David Villa Camp’ camp in July of 2008. The camp, where children receive training from Villa and other professional footballers, is now held every year.
8) His footballing idols are current Barcelona coach Luis Enrique and Enrique “Quini” Castro.
9) Villa has 6.64 million followers on Twitter. It’s almost five times more than Italian legend and ex-Sydney FC skipper Alessandro Del Piero (1.38m) but not quite as many as Cristiano Ronaldo (30.7m).
10) Despite playing for a nation with a history of some exceptional players – in particular strikers – Villa is Spain’s all-time leading goal-scorer. His goal against the Socceroos at the World Cup in Brazil was Villa’s 59th and last goal for his nation in 97 appearances.
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