Injured Villa faces Spain fitness battle

BARCELONA striker David Villa faces a major battle to prove his fitness for Spain’s Euro 2012 squad as the club confirmed he will be sidelined for between “four and five months” after breaking his shinbone in yesterday’s 4-0 Club World Cup semi-final victory over Al-Sadd.

The 30-year-old was carried off on a stretcher six minutes before half-time and Barca announced soon after that he had suffered a “fracture to the tibia in his left leg”, with the player taken to hospital in Yokohama for further tests.

A club statement said: “The approximate time he will be sidelined is between four and five months.”