Villa on Chelsea mission

David Villa had said that he is on a goalscoring mission as he travels to Stamford Bridge with Valencia to take on Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

The Spanish international was on the scoresheet against Espanyol at the weekend and is now hungry to find the net again against the Blues.

"I intend to score a goal in Stamford Bridge," he said. "But it is not for personal achievement but rather for the success of Valencia.

"Any goal this Wednesday will be very important for the return leg as we saw how crucial away goals can be against Inter Milan in the last round."

Valencia go into the game without Fernando Morientes who has a shoulder injury, but Villa believes Valenica can cope without him, with the striker also saying that he is happy his team are been labelled the underdogs for the tie.

"The absence of Morientes is sad for us, but we will demonstrate that we are not dependent on one unique player, we are a compact block and that has always been our main virtue.

"I prefer not to have the role of favourite as Chelsea have all the pressure and are expected to win.

"Chelsea are not playing that well but they are always very dangerous, their attack is sensational, and Drogba and Shevchenko arre too big stars.

"However our defence is prepared for two big battles, we need to play the match with our head and without nerves."

Euro2008 qualifying matches, Spain 2-1 Denmark

Spain edge out ten-man Denmark

Spain gave their UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying campaign a timely boost with a victory in their must-win encounter against ten-man Denmark in Madrid.

Valencia heroes
Luis Aragonés's side secured the win thanks to first-half goals from Valencia CF duo Fernando Morientes and David Villa following the dismissal of Niclas Jensen, while Michael Gravgaard replied for Denmark. The results lifts Spain into fourth place in Group F with six points from four matches, one point and a place behind their opponents.

Turning point
Denmark enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges, with Dennis Rommedahl and Daniel Agger both trying their luck, but the momentum shifted dramatically towards Spain when Jensen was sent off after 20 minutes. The midfielder had been booked three minutes earlier when he fouled Villa to earn a second yellow card. Morientes took full advantage of the Danish deficit by opening the scoring on 34 minutes after cleverly turning inside Agger and slotting past Thomas Sørensen, before Villa made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time with another clinical finish.

Nervous finish
However, just when Spain looked on course for a routine success, the Danes clawed their way back into the game. Daniel Jensen rattled the post from 25 metres and any Spanish relief was short-lived as Gravgaard headed in after Agger had launched the ball into the area four minutes after the restart. Denmark pushed forward in search of the equaliser, but despite peppering the Spain box with crosses late on, Morten Olsen's men were unable to claim a share of the spoils. Spain will be looking for back-to-back wins to push them back into qualification contention when they host Iceland on Wednesday, while Denmark resume their campaign at home to leaders Sweden in June.

Euro2008 qualifying matches, Spain 2-1 Denmark highlights and goals: