EN-NESYRI: A RECORD-BREAKING RETURN

Last night was a perfect night both for the team and for Youssef En-Nesyri, whose man-of-the-match performance secured all three points at Vallecas. Having only returned from international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations four days ago, En-Nesyri went straight back into the starting XI, scoring twice to give us a much needed victory. First, he beat Rayo Vallecano keeper Dimitrievski in a 1v1 situation before striking again from Isaac Romero's assist. As important as it was for us, his brace also carries significance in his own career.

Reaching 60 LaLiga goals, En-Nesyri becomes the top Moroccan goalscorer in LaLiga EA Sports history, overtaking Larbi Ben Barek's 59 for Atlético de Madrid during the 1940s and 1950s. In fact, Pelé once said "if I'm the king of football, then Ben Barek is God." Accumulated in 215 matches, the breakdown of Youssef En-Nesyri's 60 LaLiga goals is as follows: 42 for us, 13 for CD Leganés and five for Málaga CF.

En-Nesyri is now our sixth highest goalscorer in the 21st century

But that's not all. Two goals against Rayo Vallecano take him to 64 in all competitions since joining us, moving him into the top 20 highest goalscorers in our history and very close to the top five among foreign players. He's three goals short of Díéguez, Scotta and Gameiro and six behind Ben Yedder, all of whom are big names at the club. In addition, he is now our sixth highest goalscorer in the 21st century, behind Gameiro, Ben Yedder, Negredo, Luis Fabiano and Kanouté.

Finally, En-Nesyri now has seven goals in 18 LaLiga games this season, only one fewer than he managed during last year's campaign, in which he made 31 appearances. He finished the 21/22 season with five goals in 23 matches.