He was one of the players who could start on the bench and in the end ended up starting and one of the heroes of Barça's victory against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou (2-1). Sergi Roberto scored one of the goals in the win that put the blaugrana back on track for the league title, now 12 points ahead of the whites with 12 games to go.
"You can never say it, there are games left, Madrid can never be left for dead. Then it will depend on us. This victory is important, happy with the goal and the end to the epic with Kessié's goal," explained the youth squad player, who was chosen the best player of the match.
"We came from a disallowed goal from Asensio and from losing to scoring ourselves. Winning at the last minute knows better. The team is very happy," added Roberto, who despite being one of the protagonists of the match wanted to assess the choral strength of this Barça: "The important thing is to add, whoever plays. You have to give your all. The work belongs to the whole team".
The midfielder started to the detriment of Kessié, who came onto the field in the second half and scored the goal of a very important victory. "It was him or me, and we both scored," said a "very happy" Sergi Roberto about the Ivorian for "continuing in the" club of his life "after agreeing to his renewal. "I am very grateful to Xavi, but also to the president and board. The best way to repay this affection is on the pitch," he concluded.
"Three are very important points. It's an emotional plus. Very happy, also because of what it means in qualifying. We opened an important gap. We have a big margin, but we must be solid. Now we have to recharge batteries because what remains is very nice", explained the blaugrana captain, Sergio Busquets.
The one from Badia pointed out as one of the keys that they knew how to interpret "what the coach wanted". "Sergi Roberto's draw was very important. In the second half we continued along the same lines as in the first half. Then we were lucky with the disallowed goal for Asensio and in the end the madness with Kessié's goal", he analyzed .
Busquets acknowledged that in the final stretch of the game Madrid created "doubts" for them with many offensive players leaving the field: "We have backed off, we have given up control but we knew we could go against it", said a Busquets who returned to share the position of double pivot with De Jong: "In some games it works well to play with four midfielders and in others we have to be more attacking. I'm happy to be able to share that position with De Jong".
"It's a very big step, but not definitive. Very happy, it's my first victory in the classic. It's a dream," De Jong said later, who spoke of "fortune" when referring to the disallowed goal against Asensio and the goal in the Kessié's discount time that can be worth a League.
Consult all the results of the Santander League.
