Guardiola dedicates Club World Cup title to Villa
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola dedicated Sunday's 13th trophy of his three-and-a-half years at the helm to injured striker David Villa.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: December 18, 2011 09:11 PM IST
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola dedicated Sunday's 13th trophy of his three-and-a-half years at the helm to injured striker David Villa.
The 30-year-old suffered a fractured shin in Thursday's semi-final against Al Sadd and will miss at least five months of action, putting the rest of the season and his chances of playing for Spain at Euro 2012 in serious peril.
Guardiola, whose Barcelona side thrashed Santos 4-0 in the final of the Club World Cup in Japan, said afterwards: "I want to dedicate this victory to him.
"We missed him very much. I talked to him a lot (since the bad injury) and I want to talk to him tonight.
"His injury was the most unfortunate thing of this tournament, but I am sure that he will return to the team soon."
The Barca team wore t-shirts in honour of their injured team-mate - that had been the players' idea, said Guardiola.
"They wanted to wear the t-shirts to encourage him."