Messi denies Villa rift after victory over Grenada

ARGENTINE superstar Lionel Messi has insisted he is on good terms with Barcelona teammate David Villa after the two players had a heated exchange of words during the 2-0 La Liga victory over Grenada on Saturday.

"I have absolutely no problem with Guaje (Villa's nickname), in fact it is quite the opposite. Do not look for problems where there are none," Messi told Barca TV.

Just before half-time in the Nou Camp clash, Messi blasted Villa for not passing the ball quickly enough, to which the former Valencia striker retorted in equally venemous fashion.

"These are the kind of things that happen during a match and there was a lot of pressure on us to score the first goal and make the match easier," continued Messi who leads the Liga scoring charts with six goals, but didn't find the net against Grenada.

Barcelona's victory was its fifth in five matches in a perfect start to the season that already has it 11 points ahead of defending champion Real Madrid which was at Rayo Vallecano yesterday.

"This team has a real sense of goal and numerous resources. I feel good, not quite 100 per cent," Messi said.

Meanwhile, Real Mallorca continued its impressive early-season run and condemned visiting Valencia to a second defeat in five days when Victor Casadesus and Javier Arizmendi struck in a 2-0 victory yesterday.

Casadesus put the Balearic Islanders ahead in the eighth minute at the Iberostar Estadi before Arizmendi, a former Valencia player, doubled their lead 10 minutes into the second half moments after coming off the bench.

Valencia had its chances but Mallorca's Israel goalkeeper Dudu Aouate was on superb form.

The win lifted Mallorca to second on 11 points, four behind Barcelona. Valencia, which lost 1-2 at Bayern Munich in its Champions League Group F opener last Wednesday, is 13th on five points.

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