David Villa chooses his 7 best plays from LaLiga season so far

David Villa may have spent a single, solitary season at Atlético Madrid, but that season is entrenched in lore as arguably the best in club history. Villa arrived from Barcelona in July 2013 on a cut-rate deal and went on to form one of LaLiga’s best strike partnerships with Diego Costa and help Atlético complete the most stunning Liga title run in recent memory. There have not been many to don red and white for just nine months but leave a hero nonetheless.

Villa now plies his trade at New York City FC, where he’s doing quite well for himself - he was named MLS MVP after a 2016 season in which he scored 22 goals and led NYCFC to the MLS Cup Playoffs. But El Guaje is still an avid follower of the league in which he made his name, and he recently teamed up with go90 to select his seven best moments from the first half of the 2016-17 Liga Santander season. And his old teams feature plenty - Valencia make one appearance, Barcelona make three and so do Atlético.

Villa’s sixth-ranked moment was this Yannick Carrasco goal, which opened the scoring in Atleti’s 4-2 win over Málaga on Oct. 29.

“Carrasco put it right where Malaga’s keeper couldn’t touch it,” Villa said. “Great goal.”

Moment #4 was a Kévin Gameiro strike from the 3-0 win at Osasuna on Nov. 27, and Villa was impressed by the Frenchman’s speed which got him in position to score the second goal of the game.

“Gameiro had great speed for this 2-0 goal before half,” he said.

Finally, another Carrasco golazo cracked the list at #2, and this goal also came during the win at El Sadar.

“Incredible goal by Carrasco, sealing the win for Atleti,” Villa said about this one.

Atlético may be trudging through an up-and-down league campaign in 2016-17, but if these moments are good enough for Villa to stand up and take notice, they’re good enough for me.