David Villa has written many international sporting headlines throughout his storied career, but he made history on Sunday night.
New York City FC’s first signing and first captain scored the Club’s first goal at Yankee Stadium in the 19th minute to send them on their way to an unforgettable 2-0 win over defending Eastern Conference champions New England Revolution in front of 43,507 fans.
On top of that, Villa’s fleet feet in the dribble and his measured cross for Patrick Mullins created the second, match-clinching goal in the 84th minute. Little wonder he was voted Heineken Star of the Match and was named to the MLS Team of the Week.
Here is the story of his day in words, video, pictures, quotes and numbers.
By the numbers
- Villa took six shots in total and five of them were on target.
- Villa played 44 passes and three of them directly led to chances for his teammates to score.
- He also continued a proud record of 51 games for club and country without losing a game he’s scored in (44 wins and 7 draws).
- The captain’s goal was his 189th league goal in his 358th league match – a strike rate of a goal every 1.8 games.
Villa said
“I’m very pleased with the performance today. Obviously we’re still growing as a new team, but we are delighted,” Villa said. “We scored two goals, we could have scored some more goals in the second half. I want to take this opportunity to thank the fans publicly, on a cold day like this to give us the support they gave us.”
In the coach’s words
“I actually had a notion this was going to be a good week for him because I think he’s been fantastic in the training sessions this week,” head coach Jason Kreis said. “We don’t get around people like him very often that can finish with the percentage that he finishes chances with.”
Spreading the news
Goal.com’s Ives Galarcep: “David Villa has played in the world’s biggest competitions, and scored goals on the biggest stage, but when he netted for the first time in a New York City FC jersey on Sunday, you would have thought that he was celebrating the first strike of his career.
“Villa’s face beamed with pride as he pointed at the crowd of more than 43,000 that turned out on a cold day in the Bronx to witness a bit of history.
“As impressive as his opening goal was, it was the performance of Villa and NYCFC in the second half that really dazzled.
“If not for some heroic goalkeeping from Revs ace Bobby Shuttleworth, Villa could have finished with a hat-trick. The Spanish striker was unable to add a second, but he set up Patrick Mullins’ insurance goal with a perfect pass to the back post.”
