Barcelona boss plays down Messi/Villa spat

Manager Tito Vilanova has down played the standoff between David Villa and Lionel Messi during Barcelona’s hard-fought 2-0 victory over Granada.

The Catalan side was frustrated for large periods of the game and that appeared to boil over when Villa got engaged in a heated debate with his team-mate after Messi failed to pass him the ball.

“There is nothing to gather [from what happened between Villa and Messi],” Vilanova insisted afterwards. “Whoever plays football knows discussions are a normality, and part of the game. Such occurrences are common signs that a team is alive. Not exchanging views for betterment would honestly suggest worse.”