Villa launches staunch defence of Torres

Spain forward David Villa has launched a staunch defence of Fernando Torres and insists he is "totally convinced" his strike partner will regain his scoring touch.

Vicente Del Bosque's side meet Iberian rivals Portugal in tonight's World Cup last-16 clash in Cape Town with Villa having scored three goals from as many matches.

Torres, however, has yet to find the net in South Africa having only recovered from a knee injury just before the tournament.

Villa insists the squad are oblivious to negative reviews of Liverpool striker Torres' performances so far.

"First of all I haven't really heard any criticism of Fernando and I certainly don't share a view of his performances being lacklustre," said the Barcelona-bound striker.

"Perhaps he hasn't scored a goal but he's done spectacular work. He really is very happy in the squad, he's made an enormous effort to help this team. Let's remember what state he was in with his knee a month ago.

"He is supporting the team with his play, so I'm very thankful to him and I think his performances have been very good.

"He is doing some excellent work, but forwards are always measured by the goals they score and I'm totally convinced that if he continues working as well as he is, he will score goals."

Villa added: "He had that at the European Championship, he scored goals in the later stages although he hadn't scored many at the beginning.

"He's very happy, he's always with us and he's always going to be contributing very positively to the side."

Coach Del Bosque believes the Liverpool striker's best is yet to come.

"I think he has been very good," said the Spain boss. "He only played 30 minutes or so in the first match and then more in the next two. I think that's been very good because now he has fresh legs and we're hoping he puts on a top show tomorrow."

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