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The RICARDO VILLA thread

Archibald&Crooks

Aegina Expat
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Feb 1, 2005
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Ricardo Julio "Ricky" Villa born August 18th 1952

Ricky Villa lit up Wembley in 1981, scoring one of the most memorable goals ever scored at the old stadium.
In what for many is the most memorable finish to any Final, Ricky Villa stamped his mark on the history of the world’s oldest domestic Cup competition with some aplomb, scoring one of the great individual strikes to give his side a sixth FA Cup win.
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The Argentinian was in electric form all night, no doubt fired by his substitution during the first game between the two sides which had finished 1-1.

With the replay neatly balanced at 2-2, Spurs’ Argentinian midfielder Ricky Villa weaved his way through the City defence, twisting and turning past three pale blue shirted opponents before slipping the ball coolly past goalkeeper Joe Corrigan.

"Sometimes it feels like I only played one match and only ever scored one goal," Ricky says laughing. The fact that we probably all know which goal he means lends weight to the argument, but the truth is he played many more matches and scored lots more goals.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=deWuKNhwcIY

Together with Ossie Ardiles, he was snapped up by Tottenham's Keith Burkinshaw after Argentina's success in the 1978 FIFA World Cup.

Arriving to a ticker tape welcome at White Hart Lane, Villa scored one goal against Nottingham Forest on his debut. Capped 25 times when he arrived at the Lane, Villa struggled to nail down a regular place initially and spent a lot of his time on the substitute's bench.

Villa, however, carved his name in Spurs folklore in the FA Cup run of 1980-81. His superb goal against Wolves in the semi-final helped us to Wembley and then followed one of the great FA Cup stories.

I remember the excitement generated by the signing of Ricky and Ossie and still remember ripping up newspapers for their ticker-tape welcome to WHL. Better, I remember standing on the North Bank at Highbury when he scored two goals in the Semi-Final replay against Wolves to take us to Wembley. One was a real stunner and I'm not ashamed to tell you, I danced on the Highbury centre circle at the final whistle. Oh yes, we've celebrated achievement at Highbury.

Thanks for that Ricky!

Appearances/goals: 124/18 (LG), 21/3 (FAC), 15/3 (LG CUP), 8/1 (EUR)
 

spud

Well-Known Member
Sep 2, 2003
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With the replay neatly balanced at 2-2, Spurs’ Argentinian midfielder Ricky Villa weaved his way through the City defence, twisting and turning past three pale blue shirted opponents before slipping the ball coolly past goalkeeper Joe Corrigan.

One of my fondest memories. Standing with my brother, I was right in line with his run as he slalomed past the hapless Citeh defenders. I'm glad he didn't hear me screaming 'shoot' and ruin one of the great goals.

Better, I remember standing on the North Bank at Highbury when he scored two goals in the Semi-Final replay against Wolves to take us to Wembley. One was a real stunner and I'm not ashamed to tell you, I danced on the Highbury centre circle at the final whistle. Oh yes, we've celebrated achievement at Highbury.

What a night that was. We were cheated out of a win at Hillsborough by dodgy Clive Thomas refereeing and I was depressed until they annouced that the replay was to be at Highbury. Packed with about 50,000 and all but about 3,000 were Yids! When Ricky hit the third goal from about seven leagues out the gaff went nuts. Magic!


I never felt that we really saw the best of Ricky though. At first Birkinshaw didn't know where to play him (he initially had Ossie forward with Ricky sitting) and then he (understandably) had to play second fiddle to Hoddle, whose position he would ideally have like to occupy.

A great player though, and one who we should always hold dear to our hearts.
 

David St Hubbins

Quiz Host On Zoom
Sep 15, 2007
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I remember the semi-final against Wolves very well, Kenny Hibbert admitted that he dived to get the last gasp penalty...my mum has never ever forgiven him to this day...mind you...neither have i
 

Alfieconnman

Ticket seller for the Dome of Doom
Aug 9, 2008
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I was lucky enough to have a great seat at Wembley and to witness probably the best goal that an F.A. Cup Final is ever likely to produce. When he got the ball and started his run everything seemed to go into slow motion - it was just fantastic. Could not speak for several days afterwards and also remember how gracious the Citeh fans were on the train back to Central London. Ricky never had the same adulation as Ossie and played far fewer games but he was a great favourite and was always a joy to watch. Very strong on the ball with plenty of skill to go with it and brave enough to stay and play during the Falklands war when he could have easily taken the easy option and "done the runner".
 
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