Villa enjoys day in the sun

David Villa celebrated making the shortlist for the European Footballer of the Year award with another attacking masterclass as Valencia CF brushed aside FC Shakhtar Donetsk to make it three wins from three in UEFA Champions League Group D.

Speed and skill
The 24-year-old Spain forward attacked with speed and skill from the left, the right and down the middle, and scored with his left foot (31 minutes) and with a diving back-post header (45) to stun Shakhtar and scoop the uefa.com users' Man of the Match award, presented by Vodafone. Villa told uefa.com: "That's a nice additional prize for me. It was a terrific win and I enjoyed a night when I was able to contribute to three important home points by getting both goals.

'Great position'
"Three wins out of three is a great position to be in at the moment but we want to continue our winning streak in the games to come," he added. "Nothing is decided yet. There is a long way to go to assure ourselves of finishing first in the group. We still have to win the remaining matches and as soon as we are mathematically first in the group we can relax and talk about what that does for us."

Torrid night
Although Villa drifted from one side of the pitch to the other in search of openings he gave defender Leonardo a torrid night, not least when forcing the Brazilian into the error that led to the first goal. The former Real Zaragoza forward said: "We forced Shakhtar into the mistake and I was happy to be in the right place at the right time. The timing of the goal helped us keep calm when they were defending well. Joaquín [Sánchez] made my second one with style, but he's a great player and we expect that from him."

'Unknown quantity'
With nine points, Valencia could qualify for the knockout stage with a draw at Shakhtar in two weeks' time, and captain David Albelda is determined to seal top spot from AS Roma. "Two rivals have fallen away in our group and we now want to finish first in order to avoid the toughest teams in the next round," said the midfielder. "Shakhtar were a slightly unknown quantity but they have quality and they showed they are capable of moving the ball at high speed. It was vital to dominate the first half and grab control of the game with the first goal."