Villa: Better than treble

Jun 15 2008 By Mark Guidi

SPAIN hero David Villa last night insisted his dramatic winner in the Sweden clash felt better than bagging a hat-trick against Russia.

The Valencia star followed up his treble from the opening Group D game with a precious strike in injury time.

It sealed a place in the quarter-finals and Villa reckons it was one of the biggest goals of his career.

He said: "I'm prouder of this goal than I was of the three in the opening game.

"We suffered a bit more against Sweden and it felt great to be there to get the winner."

Boss Luis Aragoneswas delighted with the win after Zlatan Ibrahimovic looked to have snatched a point for Sweden by cancelling out Fernando Torres' opener.

And he claimed he was lucky to have a poacher like Villa in his squad.

Aragones said: "We are fortunate to have Villa who scored a goal which was almost impossible. You wonder just how he managed to do it.

"In the second half we went out looking for the goal and things worked out. It was a good win."

Aragones is sweating on the fitness of three key players ahead of Wednesday's game with Greece.

Barcelona stopper Carles Puyol limped off in the first half with a foot injury while winger David Silva picked up a similar knock and midfield star Xavi took a sore one on his knee.

Sweden are also worried about star striker Ibrahimovic ahead of their decider with Russia.

The Inter Milan star was taken off at half-time to protect a knee injury and Ibrahimovic said: "I started to feel it after five to 10 minutes.

"I just have to keep going but it has clearly gotten worse."

However, manager Lars Lagerback still expects his star man to start against Russia.

He said: "I'm counting on him being able to play. We are amuch better team with Zlatan on the pitch."