Carlos Cuellar is lifted by fans' love

Carlos Cuellar today thanked Villa fans for the "love" they showed him while he was on the long road to recovery from injury.

The Spanish defender, who is out of contract in the summer but keen to remain with the club, had a knee operation last year and missed the start of the season.

But the encouragement he received from the claret and blue faithful via micro-blogging site Twitter helped raise his spirits and keep his focus during rehabilitation.

"Even when I was injured and I was doing my recovery, people would send me messages and that would give me confidence," said Cuellar.

"They would say 'We like you,' 'We want you to stay,' 'You are the favourite player for us' and that would help my recovery.

"Even now that I have got the opportunity to play I like to think about that and know that people are behind me. It is hard when you are not playing but the kindness people gave me on Twitter helped me through that.