REAL MADRID 2-3 BARCELONA

LA LIGA

April 23, 2017

It was a perfect night, one where everything went right, where I got everything that I wanted. I scored two great goals against Real Madrid inside the Bernabeu, with the second coming in the last minute to win us the game. And then you have the fact it was my 500th goal for

Barcelona, too! I couldn’t have asked for anything more. If I had not scored in that moment, we would have said goodbye to the league title there and then. It was a goal that gave us the drive to carry on fighting to try to win the league. We deserved to win this match and it was an emotional moment for all Barcelonistas. When I saw Jordi Alba get the ball out wide, I knew where I needed to go as it was a movement that we practise. We know each other’s games so well and it wasn’t the first time we had done this. When Jordi gets in the final third of the field, I’ll always look to drop back near the edge of the penalty area, to collect the ball and finish – and that’s exactly what we did here. Luis Enrique was really complimentary after the game, saying that I was ‘the best player in history’, but I should say it was his arrival that motivated us all to compete again. We were down as a group but when he arrived at the Camp Nou he immediately lifted us to train and play at our best – he gave us all the will to be a great team again.