Football: Villa injury gives del Bosque headache

Villa faces at least four months on the sidelines after fracturing his left tibia in Barcelona’s Club match.

MADRID: Spain coach Vicente del Bosque faced the prospect of David Villa’s broken leg pushing the defending champions’ Euro 2012 hopes to breaking point. Villa, dubbed King David for his spectacular scoring record of 51 goals in 82 internationals, faces at least four months on the sidelines after fracturing his left tibia in Barcelona’s Club World Cup semi-final win over Al Sadd. Villa scored seven of the 26 goals that Spain scored in qualifying for next summer’s finals. If he fails to recover, the coach will face a dilemma over whom to replace him with since Fernando Torres (27 goals, 91 appearances) and Roberto Soldado (no goals, two appearances) have not been nearly as prolific as Villa for the national team.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2011.