Madrid - David Villa is back under the spotlight. The little Valencia striker is the toast of Spain after scoring a handsome hat-trick in Tuesday's 4-1 rout of Russia - a rout which puts the Spaniards firmly on top of Euro 2008 Group D.
Referee Konrad Plautz refused to give the match ball to Villa at the end, as is tradition after a hat-trick. Even so, the razor-sharp Spaniard is still on Cloud Nine at the moment.
Three days ago Villa was doubtful for Spain's opener because of an untimely calf strain.
Indeed, he missed last Wednesday's 1-0 friendly defeat of the USA because of the muscle injury.
Now the whole of Spain is delighted that the 26 year-old recovered in time to take Russia apart.
Former Spain manager Jose Antonio Camacho commented on television channel Cuatro that "this is the best individual performance by a Spanish player since (Emilio) Butragueno's destruction of Denmark."
Butragueno, a Spain and Real Madrid team-mate of Camacho, grabbed the headlines by scoring four for "La Seleccion" in Spain's 5-1 thrashing of Denmark in the 1986 World Cup finals, played in Mexico.
Spain have been looking for a goalscoring hero since Butragueno hung up his boots in 1996...and now they seemed to have found one.
Fernando Torres was expected to be Spain's big attraction up front - after his astonishing first season for Liverpool - but had cede the limelight to Villa on Tuesday because of the latter's audacious hat-trick.
Villa was full of praise for Torres after the Russia game, thanking him publicly for his help and pointing out that "football is not only about goals. Fernando worked really hard to help me today."
The little Asturian seems to be more comfortable playing off a classic centre-forward like Torres, rather than battling alone up front, as is often the case for Valencia.
He loves to drift out onto the left wing or drop-back slightly towards midfield, and this is exactly what he does for Spain whilst the rival defenders keep an eye on Torres.
Villa will probably be experiencing a distinct sensation of "deja vu" right now.
Two years ago, at the 2006 World Cup finals, he started off like a house on fire, scoring two in Spain's 4-0 hammering of Ukraine.
He finished the tournament with three goals - he scored in the 1-3 round of 16 defeat against France - but could score even more this time, so confident and determined does he look at the moment.
His hat-trick is good news for debt-ridden Valencia, who are hoping to receive several big-money offers for him after Euro 2008.
Villa has scored 51 Liga goals for Valencia in 115 games, after joining them from Zaragoza in 2005, top-scoring each season.
He joined Zaragoza in 2003 from second division Sporting Gijon, and helped them to win the Spanish King's Cup final against "Los Galacticos" of Real Madrid in 2004.
Villa seems keen to leave Valencia - who finished 10th in La Liga - and will have no shortage of pretenders after Tuesday's exhibition in Innsbruck.
