Villa has echoed the sentiments of fellow former Spain international Raul when it comes to giving Messi the biggest of billings. The Real Madrid legend recently said when surprisingly overlooking some fellow icons at Santiago Bernabeu: “I've been fortunate to play with players like [Zinedine] Zidane, Cristiano, Ronaldo, [Luis] Figo... but I think Messi is the best, he's very different. He makes everything look easy, things you see as impossible, he makes them look easy, as if he were playing with his friends in the street.”
Villa worked with several other modern day greats at Barcelona. He considers former Blaugrana captain Carles Puyol to be “the most difficult defender to dribble past”. The ex-frontman admitted that Luis Enrique is his “idol” - with the current Paris Saint-Germain boss also starting out at Sporting Gijon before passing through Catalunya.
Villa picked out his goal in the 2011 Champions League final, as Messi and Barcelona swept to a 3-1 victory over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, as his favourite. When it comes to effort registered by team-mates, Villa plumped for Andres Iniesta’s dramatic winner for Spain in the 2010 World Cup final as the pick of the bunch.