World Cup: David Villa On Spain, Messi & World Cup Glory

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1:11At the FIFA World Cup 2026, the Football Daily podcast with Rick Edwards. Hello and welcome to the Football Daily with me, Rick Edwards and Guillaume Ballaguet. Yeah, I'm not Lloyd, sorry. I'm not as funny as him either. You don't need to apologise for that again, let me tell you. And you wear much better shirts. There is no competition there. Have you ever done stand-up comedy? Yeah, I have actually. It's the most terrifying thing. That's about 25 years ago. Yeah. I wouldn't want to do it now. You? No, I haven't, no. But I know Lloyd does, and I've seen him. And he's a master of dominating the stage and the audience and all of that.

1:49Yeah, but he doesn't bring any of that to the pod. Is that right? That's what frustrates me, yeah. How long are you in LA for? A couple of days more, I think. And then I'll go to Dallas. Spain is going to try to base themselves in Dallas until the final one they go to New... Oh, no. Sorry. Yeah, but I know that's what you think anyway. So we'll be in Dallas next after one more day. So what should I do around here? I've seen there's a place that does jazz music. I mean, it depends what you want, what you're after. Yeah, a bit like cocktails, talk. music if you want cocktails anywhere along here is good have you been to the sea yet?

2:28I went to Manhattan Beach oh it's nice down there very nice and just by pure accident because I was late I meant to go there for many hours and film a few things I just saw the sunset so I got at the end just before the light went sunset was lovely it's so pretty down there we were looking at the little beach houses and being like I mean how much can these be? and we looked it up but it's too much. It is quite a lot too much. So we had the pleasure a bit earlier on of speaking to World Cup winner and Spain's all-time leading goal scorer. Yeah, lovely guy as well. Lovely man, David Villa. Here he is.

3:04David Villa, how are you? Good, good. Very good. I want to talk to you first of all about Mikel Ayathebal because he feels like a player that I don't know about in Spain but outside of Spain, people don't really talk about him. Like people, he's sort of like this kind of invisible man and he just sort of pops up and scores these goals. What's the perception of him in Spain? I think he's a great player. He is one of the best strikers right now in Spain. For Spain, the people know that he's one of the best of the best right now in Spain. The problem is like he play in Real Sociedad, Real Sociedad, he doesn't play the Champions League.

3:41Champions League outside of Spain has a lot of impact and if you didn't see him, he's normally that out of Spain. If you don't see the national team, he's not a player that the people love him, because it's important to play the Champions League. But in Spain, he's one of the players and the people know it. For Real Sociedad, when he plays as a club and obviously when he plays in Spain, he's doing very well. Is he one of Spain's most crucial players in this tournament? Right now, yes. He's a talent in the box. He plays very well because he combines with the number 10, today Dani Olmo, sometimes Pedri, sometimes Merino.

4:22He combines very well, plays in the middle of the central back. That makes that the central back don't go to the left when Lamin Jamal or Nico or Baena has one by one against the left back in the box. he's a shark today I think he has three chances one chance is the keeper of the Austria did a very well stop and the other two it was inside he is quite low profile and unflashy he basically just scores goals for you he's humble he doesn't like a lot the focus of the media and everything but again he's a great player and he's one of the best scorers that Spain did in these years I would probably make the argument he's the most prolific Spanish striker since you can be for numbers yes I mean you know the people can if you look in the numbers after me Morata did very well the numbers of Morata are amazing the numbers of Ferran are amazing also and the number of Oya Zaval are very well So the three of these kind of players, you know, the people can like more one player or other player.

5:37But if you're talking about numbers, these three players are doing very well when they put the Spanish national team jersey. The race for the golden boot at this tournament is fantastic. As someone who's won a golden boot at a Euros and come very close to winning a golden boot at a World Cup, is that something that you are thinking about during the tournament? Like in 2010, were you keeping an eye on Muller, what Muller was up to? You know, when you are a striker and you live for the goal, you're always thinking about to score goals, to be the top scorer. Because if you are a top scorer, your team can do very well things, you know, because you need to score.

6:12But, you know, when you are playing, you are not thinking about the trophy. The trophy that you're thinking about is the team, the World Cup trophy for being the winner. but you know that inside you you need to score goals the teammates and the team are waiting for you to score goals and if you score the most it's better for the team Who's your favourite striker at this tournament? You know, it's difficult to set Ollar Zaval is doing well I like him he's Spanish Mbappé are doing well but I think he's not a number 9 as a striker Messi are amazing but Messi is not a Messi is everything you know he's a striker he's number 10 he's a winger he's everything he can play in everything and if you ask me about the traditional number 9 Harry Kane is the traditional number 9 and he's doing very well too you mentioned Lionel Messi there oh also I forget Haaland Haaland and Kane yeah don't forget Haaland the regular the regular the theoretical number 9 you know in the box Haaland and Kane are the best you mentioned Lionel Messi there you obviously played with him for three years at Barcelona.

7:24He assisted you a bunch of times. Does it amaze you that he's still playing at the level that he's playing at? When you're talking about Messi, I'm always thinking about that he's capable to do everything. It doesn't matter the age, it doesn't matter the difficulties of the tournament, because he's the best all-time, in my opinion. But he's 39, you know. He's 39, So he surprised me a lot for the level that he's doing, his quality. He has teammates around him that cover him, the things that he cannot do as when he was 25 years old. And they are doing very well. When you were playing with him, were you kind of aware of just how good he was?

8:11Yeah, he surprised me every day because he's the best. He's good in everything. has the opportunity and the lucky to play with him was amazing because for me he's the best player of all time. But in the position that I take in Barcelona, I received a lot of good passes from him. So it was a great experience to play with him, yes. And what about this Spain team? Because all of the conversation for the first few games, particularly in the group stages, was about France and how potent France looked. and not that many people were talking about Spain. There was that frustration against Cape Verde, but then the game that you've just been to against Austria, it felt like Spain were just kicking into gear.

8:55Yeah, they did very well today and it's good for the team because I know that they are not happy for the way that they are playing. They are winning the games, but they are players that want more and they know that they can do more. today it's totally different. They did a great game, they played very well they scored three goals but they made a lot of chances and for me it's a step today very important for the next because Spain again, you know, play as Spain. Yeah, and what's the expectation at home? Is it that you win it? Yeah, I think, you know, winning the World Cup is always difficult but knowing that and see the way that Spain play, you say, OK, they can win, of course.

9:46What team can stop them? French, it can be Portugal, you know. Winning the World Cup is difficult because it has great teams here, but if you look at Spain, obviously they are one of the best teams, yes. I've got to ask you what you've thought of England. Generally speaking, we've been, I think, disappointed in what we've seen. No, I love a lot. They play strong, they have a strong defence, they have hard game, they have good strikers. And I believe in them. I think England can do a great World Cup because they have a great team. Who else has impressed you? Probably Morocco. Morocco is a team that they play well in the African Cup.

10:27They are playing well, they run a lot. They are a team that is not easy to play against them. And we will see because they can have a chance to. One thing I wanted to ask you about is the ball. which I actually got here, I've spoken to a couple of goalkeepers and they've said it's difficult for them. It's moving quickly. But they've also said, in terms of a striker, it's a dream. Because when you hit it, it stays hit. Have you had a go? No, I didn't shoot a lot. No, the balls. But I remember in 2010, that happened the same. Always the keepers have problems. And the striker, we are happy with that.

11:07It's the difficulty of football. Adidas always did very well. The ball is amazing. But the difficulty of this sport is that you need to accommodate yourself. Before the interview we were talking about, the difficulty is playing Mexico for every team. But you need to accommodate yourself. It's not easy to play this sport because it's not a rule that every day you play in the same space, in the same weather. You need to change. The most faster you accommodate yourself as a team and as a player, you have more opportunity to win and this is the difficulty to this sport Did you used to notice variation in the ball?

11:45Yes, sometimes not with this because I didn't play with him but in 2010 we realised that depends on your shooting the ball can help you as a striker and you know, you accommodate yourself to that as I mentioned And just finally, who's going to win it? I hope Spain I believe Spain too but again, it's a difficult World Cup and winning the World Cup is always difficult. They always surprise something. But I believe, I believe, and I think Spain can do it again. Really nice chatting to you. Thanks so much, David. Thank you so much. Really interesting talking to David about Oya Zabal, who we've spoken about.

12:26And he does just kind of go under the radar, but he's so effective. Yeah, he's got to copyright the invisible man. It's good, isn't it? That's what he is. And the Raider, I guess if you want to be in the posters in LA, New York and all these places where you see La Minna Mal and Vinny and all those, you have to want it. You have to play for a big side and you have to be very good. And it's only one of those three things. Real Sociedad has always been, will always be one move from there. There are rumors that Barcelona, they do want a striker. and they say it's Julian Alvarez of Atlético Madrid or Jarzabal.

13:08I think they put Jarzabal name there just to try to bring the price down on Julian Alvarez. It won't be Mikel because Mikel wants to stay where he is. It's a boyhood club. Yeah, yeah. And he was on loan a few months as a youth man for Eibar locally. But he was interviewed after the game. He was like, can we do this quickly? Who do you want next? Croatia or Portugal? I don't care. You know, that was the kind of interview. Lovely, lovely, intelligent guy. His mom is Ivanka. Dad is also a businessman and they run his stuff and he doesn't want it in any other way. And he goes back, when he goes back home, he goes back to his mates from, you know, school, keeps him grounded in a way, but is the choir leader of that side and somebody that is one of the most intelligent players I've ever seen being invisible in such a crowded place is a sign of it.

14:07I really found the contrast today watching Spain who are excellent by the way we'll come on to that between Laminya Mal who I mean we know is a fabulous player but felt like he was doing trying to do a bit too much to me. He was trying to be too much Laminya Mal. Right, right, right. And then Oyathabar who just very simply just scores when he gets opportunities. And that's it. No frills. do what needs to be done that's me David said it didn't he he had three chances one almost a score but needed a big save and two goals and he's elegant in the way he does things and he's got no problem in hitting with his right foot like in the second goal even though he's clearly left footed so he's got talent but how did he appear in that position for the second goal it's what takes us all back while we keep looking at La Minna Mal.

15:03And today, he wanted the ball from the beginning. He's determined to be our leader, the man that wins the World Cup and all of that. But it was a bit too much. He was also picked for the mix zone at the end and he was a bit down. It was in his moment. But he said something very nice. All he does is for his mom who's having the life that she always wanted and for his little brother, cute three-year-old. I've seen a lot of stuff on Instagram. of him dancing at the side of the pitch. It's great. I actually spent three hours outside the hotel of the players yesterday because I had a meeting and it was three hours late.

15:41But you get to see a lot of things like his two mates, Lamine's two mates, who are with him all the time, who are super famous. All the kids wanted pictures with them. And they came empty-handed and then they went with big backs, I suppose, of things signed by him. His mum, who wasn't a glamour girl, but now she is and then loving it with the big sunglasses and when people were clapping, there was about 150 people outside the hotel clapping and coming in. She was just very quietly, just raising her hand and saying hello to all of them. They're having a well of a time and I think Lamine loves the fact that they're doing all of that.

16:17It's funny to think that Ayatheba probably could have walked in and no one would have noticed him. I don't know, his mom is a dad. Nobody knows anything about him. Going back to Ayatheba, Does he score a lot of goals in La Liga? So he scored 15 goals last season, nine the one before, and nine the one before that. So not particularly? No, about four or five the one before that, because he actually got a cruciate ligament injury that made him miss the Qatar World Cup. But he would have been a squad member, and he was a number 10 or maybe a winger. Not the fastest, but he had some pace, and he had to adapt to these cruciate ligament injuries.

16:57and his last two years are the two best years of his career. Emmanuel Aguacil at Real Sociedad, kind of play him there every now and again if there's nobody else, but Real Sociedad keeps signing strikers. They just don't shine. But it was Luis de la Fuente who, after Morata, realized, you know what, I can see it. You get into the right position. You finish well. I mean, you just have to remember, sorry, Rick, the Euros final in 2024 and his second goal. But since then, if I'm not mistaken, and I think he's scored 17 goals in 18 games or something like that. But in the last 10, it's something like 9 goals and 7 assists.

17:34Something crazy. He really is involved in 1.5 goals per game with Spain. So it's become something else now. Internationally, since the start of the season in 2025, I think he's scored the second most amount of goals after Haaland. Contributions, called contributions. Yeah, contributions. That's right. So, how did that happen?

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19:05Whole Foods Market, make your summer sizzle.

19:12I'm Steve Bratnell, host of Games Gone, the Steve Bratnell podcast. What's my favorite World Cup moment as a fan? I have to say, Michael Owen skinning the whole of the Argentina defence and cracking it in top corner for a very short space of time, I believed. It's an absolutely fantastic goal by Michael Owen! My favourite World Cup player in history. It won't be popular, but I'm going to say Diego Maradona. All right, he handballed it. But the guy was a complete genius. The People World Cup 2026. Listen on BBC Sounds. The Football Day at the People World Cup 2026. Listen on BBC Sounds.

19:58Well, Dion Dublin has just joined us. Hey, Dion. How are you? All good. You two were both at the Spain game and you've arrived independently, even though I know that you chatted at the game. Yes, but I know now that you came with your mate's car and we're going back to the same hotel. You could have got a lift. We're going back to the same hotel, no? Yeah, are we going back to the same hotel tonight? Yeah. Oh, fantastic. Can I jump in with you? Actually, no, because we are going. Rick is telling me a couple of places to go to after this. Okay, good. So should we do that first? Yes, absolutely.

20:27Guillaume's interested in cocktails. Cocktails and jazz. Cocktails and jazz. I think you would do cocktails and jazz. Jazz, jazz, jazz. I know where to go. I mean, literal music to this guy's ear, is that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is beautiful. Just run the corner. I love that. Cocktails and jazz. Okay, beautiful. We will do that 100%. Let's plan this later. and talk about the Spain game. I think, and I know you've sort of made this point to me already, that people have been so sort of impressed by France and Messi and Argentina that people are sleeping slightly on Spain. And I think this performance today might wake a few people up, Dion.

21:07Yes, and I said this in my comms as well today, that I just think it was incredibly professional. it was just they were just well organised they played football when they needed to if they needed to just miss the press out they would and I don't know it was just like they were going through the gears Rick they weren't phased at all they looked so comfortable I mean Austria had a proper good go to be fair they had a little 25 minute period where we think maybe they could have scored and if they had had a proper touch they could have struck a goal but I just think Spain were just they looked so professional uncomfortable it was amazing performance and also looked like if they needed to find another gear that they easily could have no they had to find it because uh before the in the first quarter are we already talking like that i know but we have to no we do we do yeah no no not quarters no but i'm sorry what are you calling it though yeah you have to call it a quarter a the part a of the game that's a very good point part a is better a b and c d well the first multiple choice exam the first quote sorry the first quarter we didn't play well and at the break luisa la fuente went hoy and they all went like yeah okay all right and then we started we started adjusting the the pressure uh passing the ball faster so yeah there was a gear that was needed uh and and then the amazing thing i found with a temperature it was 22 23 degrees but i think there was the the How do you say?

22:40Humidity. The humidity and the whole thing fell much, much than that. And they maintained from minute 20 or two, they maintained the level until the end. There was a, Orjadzal made a sprint in the minute 93 from side to side to the pitch, just because for the pressure, just to actually continue the pressure. We're the best ones statistically at pressuring high and recovering the ball early. The ones that have conceded the least amount of shots. we have not conceded goals yet and the expected goals he's so proud isn't he he's so proud he's proud of his team he's right to be though he is right to be he's proud of his team tell me this day Dion did you ever do sort of running chasing down in the 93rd minute no no when you're team with 3-0 up running did you say I stayed in between Dion get after him I stayed in between the sticks cross it to me cross it to me but you know that's just the mentality of the Spain team.

23:36It's just the way they were. I said this in comms again, that they made it look easier than what it was. Because of the hard work that they put in, and the graft, and out of possession, they squeezed together. And they went together. And when they got it back, because they worked so hard to get the ball back, it looked easy. Their first touch was amazing. And every time a person in a red shirt had the ball, they had three or four options. It was just bizarre to see like a clinic in football on the world stage. Also, I was reminded of something you told me the other day, Guillaume, that this will be and was the first time that Spain have won a knockout game in a World Cup since 2010.

24:19Yeah, we've only beaten in World Cup games. We've only beaten Iran, Austria, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, obviously today Austria and Uruguay. So not impressive names because it's explained very, very quickly. I can't remember if I did it last time, but Del Bosca takes the same team that won the World Cup. It's like, do whatever you want. This is Brazil. Have fun. And they had fun. They did not play football. They did have fun. And we were knocked out in the group stage. And then Lopetegui comes in and two days before the World Cup, he gets sacked. And then Luis Enrique, we didn't have patience with him.

24:58There was a lot of tension. The players didn't fully buy it. Didn't work out. Lost against Morocco. So that's the last three World Cups having won it. But do you know how old Laminya Mal was when we won the World Cup? Well, hang on. Was he one? He was three. So he's got no memory whatsoever of any of that. So he can say whatever he wants, like, we just want to win the World Cup. You know, today, when I was watching the game, I looked at all the players and they all had sort of one and two touch, maybe three touches max. The only player really that was allowed to sort of do what he needed to do was Laminya Mali.

25:37He just went through the 10 position, then he went back to the right, to the left. And all the players that were in his team knew what he was doing and allowed him to do it. Sometimes he'd lose the ball and wouldn't track back. But then when they get it back, he'd be the outlet. And everybody else was allowed to... Normally, you have a luxury. Back in the day when I played, you had a luxury Ryan Giggs was possibly our luxury at Manchester United do what you got to do because you're brilliant Laminio Mali's that for Spain and they allow him to do it because when he gets the ball everybody goes like this it's just amazing to watch and another thing happens so he's got two or three players that's the thing he sucks people towards him and then suddenly there's space everywhere else Cucurella Cucurella had a lot of space all the time I've got to say Guillem was very good today by the way he wanted to do a little bit more of a celebration on the goals but he was very sort of Fist under the table.

26:28I've just got to be careful here because people are watching. The camera's on us and it's like, oh, what do I do? They were just standing up, but, you know. And we had as well. We had Austria, didn't we, on the left of us. It was respect to my rivals. On the right of us. And the noise from the Spanish commentator was just genius. You know, Vicky Sparks was doing the comms. And the Spanish commentator, whose name is? Alfredo Martinez, a legend. Yes. He was still saying goal. Go, go, go, go. He was just genius. Amazing comms. Amazing comms. So Spain are going to face Portugal in the next round after what was a, well, quite a dull first half and then an absolutely cracking second half.

27:13Croatia, in the end, losing 2-1. After they'd gone 1-0 up, then Ronaldo equalising with the penalty. Then the sort of very badly received him being taken off in the 81st minute when it was 1-0. That proving to be potentially a good decision when they get the 93rd minute goal. Unbelievable ball in from Rafael Liao, by the way. And then at the end, and this is the thing I think we have to talk about first, it looks like Croatia has scored. And we go to this snick-o-meter thing to demonstrate that the ball has maybe grazed a hair of the Croatia player, meaning that the other guy, the other Croatia player is offside.

27:54I don't like it. I get that to the absolute letter of the law and with the technology, they're saying, well, he has touched it, but the flight of the ball isn't affected. The spin of the ball isn't affected. He would not feel that he has made contact with that ball, Dion. Obviously, for you, it wouldn't have been a problem because it would just, yeah, we're straight past.

28:18But if it grazes your hair, it's stupid. It's a goal. Okay, so what's the rule then? What would be the rule for you? Well, that's the thing. I accept that there are going to be sort of these edge cases and you have to draw the line somewhere. But it just doesn't feel like in the spirit of it, like that guy has not in any meaningful way made contact with the ball. We're going to a deeper thing. What is technology doing in football? But it's too late for that. once we introduced it and VR and everything else and the semi-automatic or automatic offside. The thing is, OGM, if he'd actually headed the ball onto the goal scorer and the ball had deviated.