20 Aug 2012

Villa says injury in past after a scoring return

3:48 pm on 20 August 2012

The Barcelona forward David Villa says his injury troubles are behind him after celebrating his return from an eight-month layoff by scoring in a 5-1 rout of Real Sociedad in their first match of the La Liga season

Spain's all-time leading scorer with 51 goals, broke his left leg at the Club World Cup last December and missed the national team's Euro 2012 triumph as he continued his recovery.

He replaced Pedro in the 74th minute to a huge Nou Camp ovation and swept a shot inside the far post, after a pullback from Andres Iniesta, to crown his return with six minutes left.

Lionel Messi scored twice, with Carles Puyol and Pedro Rodriguez snatching a goal each.