Clubs: Real Sporting de Gijón, Real Zaragoza, Valencia CF, FC Barcelona

UEFA honours
UEFA European Championship: winner 2008
UEFA EURO 2008: Top Scorer
UEFA EURO 2008: Team of the Tournament
UEFA Champions League: winner 2011
UEFA Super Cup: winner 2011
UEFA.com users' Team of the Year: 2010

• A native of the Asturias region in northern Spain, Villa started out with local club Sporting Gijón, scoring 38 goals in two Segunda División campaigns before moving in 2003 to Zaragoza, where he won the Copa del Rey at the end of his first season, converting a penalty in the 3-2 final victory against Real Madrid CF.

• His 32 Liga goals in two seasons with Zaragoza prompted a summer 2005 move to Valencia, where he amassed 25 in his debut campaign – just one short of the Pichichi-winning total.

• First capped by Spain in February 2005, he displaced Raúl González from the side at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and justified that decision with three goals; he fared even better at UEFA EURO 2008, where he finished as the tournament's top marksman with five as Spain took the title, though he missed the final through injury.

• Won the Copa del Rey with Valencia in 2008 and struck a career-best tally of 28 Liga goals the following season; joined Barcelona in May 2010 having scored 108 goals in 166 Liga matches in his five-year stint at Mestalla.

• Starred once again for Spain at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, scoring five of the team's eight goals in their triumphant campaign; overtook Raúl as La Roja's all-time leading scorer when he struck his 45th international goal in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying win against Scotland in Glasgow.

• Scored 18 goals in 34 appearances as Barcelona retained the Liga title in 2010/11, and four in the UEFA Champions League, including one during the 3-1 victory against Manchester United FC in the Wembley final.

• Missed the second half of the 2011/12 campaign recovering from the fractured left tibia he sustained during the FIFA Club World Cup semi-final against Qatar's al-Sadd Sports Club in Yokohama.