Arguably the two best strikers in world football, playing for arguably the two best clubs in world football. Both superb finishers with excellent goal returns, but which do I think is better?
David Villa
After many superb performances for his national team in the FIFA World Cup in 2010, David Villa Sanchez was bought by FC Barcelona for a huge fee of 40 million euros from Valencia. Following this he became a pivotal part of the front three that won Barcelona the Champions League in 2011. 67 appearances into his career in Catalonia and Villa already has 30 goals, a number that will of course increase to even more extraordinary levels as his time at Barca lengthens.
Perhaps his greatest asset is his eye for goal. It isn't often you speak of Villa missing a goal scoring opportunity and his performance and brace against Real Madrid in his team's emphatic 5-0 victory over Real Madrid was as good as any player gets. He has scored 265 goals at club level in his career having played for Sporting Gijon B, Sporting Gijon, Real Zaragoza and Valencia before being signed for Barcelona and has 78 assists to his name, his excellent ability to be a team player was surely crucial to Pep Guardiola's decision to sign him and to his success as a footballer in general.
However Villa's footballing abilities are unfortunately contrasted by his off ball antics at times. Too many times has he dived, held his face after being touched on the shoulder, waved imaginary cards at the referee in an attempt to get an opposing player booked and in one case hit Mesut Ozil in the face after trouble broke out in the Spanish SuperCup. Although I am analysing his skills with a ball, acts of stupidity and cheating will certainly come into my conclusion when I compare him to Wayne Rooney.
Last time I was comparing a Barcelona player to someone else, it was Lionel Messi. This was the section which lost it for him, his international career. Fortunately, this time the man in blue and purple has had a fantastic international career. For Spain, David Villa has impressively scored 50 goals in 80 games thus becoming the Spanish national side's all time leading goalscorer - and he's not even 30 yet. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup, David Villa was at the very top of the game. At that World Cup you forgot about Messi, you forgot about Ronaldo, Iniesta, Xavi, Kaka and even Rooney because that tournament was the David Villa show. He finished joint top goalscorer with 5 goals (an accolade shared with Thomas Muller), and without those goals, it is beyond any doubt that Spain wouldn't have won their first World Cup.
I am in no doubt that Villa is a top player, and he was an absolute joy to watch at the World Cup but in Wayne Rooney he has a rival for the number one striker in the world. Its far too close to call...
Wayne Rooney
Now then. Shrek, Wazza, Rooney - call him what you will but this is one hell of a player. He just seems to have it all: Skill, composure, superb vision and an impressive goal return. Seen as not just Man Utd's best player but England's too and he was part of a terrifying trio with Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez that was so lethal a few years back and heavily contributed to the club's Champions League success. Since then he has formed superb partnerships with Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez. Strikers come and go for the Reds, but Rooney remains a constant in Ferguson's attack.
Just like Villa, Wayne Rooney's most lethal weapon is surely his ability to score goals in the big games. Time and time again has the now 26 year old netted winning goals against the top teams in England and from around Europe, goals which when playing for Man Utd are crucial to winning the trophies they crave. Rooney has scored 175 goals in 411 club appearences so far, a stat that will of course increase from being Man Utd's number one asset going forward - very impressive. He is in the peak of his career right now, and already is he Man Utd's ninth leading goalscorer, behind players that retired well into their 30's. Rooney has a long way to go before retirement so don't be surprised to see him moving up that table rapidly.
Earlier I criticised Villa for how he is as a person at times. However in 2010 Rooney went to different levels of stupidity. After an awful personal World Cup where England may as well have had 10 men Rooney decided that he no longer wanted to play for Man Utd, after many transfer requests and an ongoing saga Man Utd suddenly decided to offer their best player more money, to which he of course said yes to and miraculously he loved Manchester again. Typical footballer. Although, if you want a player to put maximum effort into a match and never stop running you want Wayne Rooney, just look at his performance in the 2011 Champions League final. Man Utd lost 3-1 to Barcelona in a match in which they had the ball a total of four times (spot the exaggeration). However Rooney was constantly chasing the ball and seemed the only player in white that realised the importance of the game, he bagged himself the goal of the night because of it.
And now onto his inconsistent career with England. His first tournament was Euro 2004 in which he was superb, he looked like England's next superstar as he ripped defenses to shreds. Unfortunately he plays for England so no one else offered the same amount of skill meaning England were sent crashing out in typical penalty shoot-out fashion - but not before Rooney picked up a broken metatarsal, perhaps the root to our failure in that match. In the 2006 and 2010 World Cups however we saw the bad side of this player, a stamp in 2006 on Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho saw him sent off in a match that England once again went on to lose on penalties. Nothing of the sort happened in 2010, however this time we saw Rooney's form drop to levels we'd not seen before. He couldn't pass, shoot, dribble or enjoy himself. Never did he even look like he wanted to be there, I'm sure Villa has similar moments, but to abandon your team when it most needs you is unacceptable, especially when you're earning mega-bucks to do it.
So, who's best?
My decision, David Villa is the better player. It is an incredibly close decision, one week Rooney will be better but the next week Villa will be better. But my decision is that right now, David Villa is the best striker in the world. Why? Well both have had similarly brilliant club careers and I cannot separate their quality in front of goal and therefore it has to go on their international careers. Rooney is unlucky to be part of a national team where the players just don't seem to care about winning trophies, but that doesn't excuse Rooney's embarrassing performances in 2010. He could of been rubbish and I've had eventually forgiven him, but the fact he then went on to blame the England supporters was pathetic. Villa is incredible to watch for Spain, never does he suddenly decide to go missing in games like Rooney did in South Africa. So for that reason, Villa wins.
Who would I prefer in Stoke's team?
I may believe that Villa is slightly the better player, but I would rather have Rooney in Stoke's team. This is largely down to the effort he puts into each league game he is involved in as well as his experience in the Premiership. Rooney is great in the air and seems to enjoy playing in physical games, therefore he'd fit into the Stoke team well. He wouldn't get as many goals, mainly due to our awful midfield but the guy is good enough to get his own goals. Villa is often diving and cheating in matches, something Tony Pulis hates. He might score a few with Stoke, but just like Tuncay and Gudjohnsen he'd find it real tough settling in.
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