Villa: “The tackle on Messi was brutal”

Anna Segura

After watching the video of the foul by Ujfalusi on Leo Messi, David Villa reckons it was “brutal”, but also believes the Atletico Madrid man: “didn’t go into the tackle to hurt”.

Messi’s injury was a talking point at the press conference held after training this morning and whilst lamenting the loss of the Argentinean for the next couple of games, Villa insisted: “the rest of the squad is capable of making sure we don’t notice his absence”.

“Messi is better”
After tests showed the injury to Messi wasn’t as serious as first feared, Villa commented: “we are lucky if he’s only going to be out for 10 days. Even so we’d like him to be still here as he’s a vital player for the team”. The Spanish striker also explained that he’d seen Messi this morning and: “he was better – he wasn’t in such pain and he was more confident about coming back”.

Extra motivation
Reflecting on Sunday’s result, Villa said: “every game is just three points, but it’s also important who you beat and where. It has been three years without a win there for Barça and the win gives us an extra motivation”.

Three points the most important thing
Villa had his chances to get on the score sheet on Sunday and he believes: “if I’d been a bit more accurate or De Gea hadn’t been in such fine form, we could have won by more. The important thing though, is that the team won and took the points”.