24.01.2011 14:09

Villa: “It’ll be a tough match”

Vanessa Forns

David Villa has no doubt that facing Almeria in the Copa del Rey semi final will be no easy challenge, and doesn’t believe that the famous 8-0 win in the league will have any bearing on this latest encounter.

“It will be a very tough game, and we’re not thinking about that 8-0 win in the league at all” said Villa on Monday at the Ciutat Esportiva. He knows Almeria is “a team with a different manager. It will be very hard, because they are very enthusiastic about this, like us, especially considering they have never got this far in the competition before”.

Faith in the fans

Asked what kind of atmosphere can be expected at the Camp Nou for a midweek game kicking off at 22.00, the striker said “I have been here for a year and I would just ask the fans to do the same as they have until now. They always support the team, they’re excited. There is no need to ask anything of them, we know they’ll come, it’s obvious that we all have to do our little bit to get through the semi finals.”

Happy with performances

On a personal level, Villa is delighted to be providing “both goals and play … Barça are exceeding expectations … when the manager, the players, the fans and the club are happy, there is no need to ask questions … I have come to understand the system better, the speed of our play, keeping it non-stop. And also when Barça do not have the ball. I now defend down the wings, and I’m getting better at it little by little.”

Not worried about goals

Josep Guardiola is constantly saying that Barça’s combination game up front has improved since Villa came along. “The things he says to you are things he has often said to me too. That’s why I don’t mind whether I score or not. He knows that we do important things. He has always said that the most important thing is for the team to score and that Barça is built around everyone.”

Guardiola to resign?

On the manager he added that “he has a lot of faith in his own ideas … he has created this Barça team that has won 8 titles out of 10. The people want him to renew, but that’s between him and the club. There are few people that love Barça as much as the boss. We need to stay calm, everybody that loves Barça would like him to renew his contract as soon as possible. He has a contract until the end of the year and I’m sure it will all work out well.”

Only worried about themselves

There are naturally comparisons being made with Real Madrid, but the Barça man believes “we shouldn’t think too much about our rival … all of the competitions we are playing in are in our own hands, and we are delighted with our position at this stage of the season, both because of the results and because of the way we are playing”.

Many points left to play for

FC Barcelona are four points ahead of Madrid but Villa feels “it’s not a big difference … we know they are close behind us, and there are lots of points left to play for. We will need a lot of points to win this league, because Madrid are going to do the same. There are lots of games left and we have to take each one as it comes.”

Naming names

Villa was asked about several of his colleagues, one of which was Bojan. “What can I say about him! We shouldn’t hurry this player too much. He is just twenty and is doing things well, even though he’s not scoring goals. One day, people who follow this league will be fed up with seeing Bojan score goals. We just need to be patient, because he’s got enormous talent.” As for Pedro: “his performances have been spectacular, he clearly has an amazing future. This year he’s really coming into his own and is scoring some incredible goals.”