With the match ball safely tucked underneath his arm, a beaming Kylian Mbappe walked off the Estadio Jose Zorilla pitch soaking up the plaudits from fans and teammates alike.
The French striker had just scored all of Real Madrid's goals in a 3-0 La Liga win at Real Valladolid, his first hat-trick since a long-anticipated move from Paris Saint-Germain to the Spanish capital was finally completed last summer.
After a stuttering start to his Madrid career, Mbappe appears to have hit the groove, scoring in each of his last five games across competitions, notching eight in total.
With second-placed city rivals Atletico Madrid having only drawn at home to Villarreal earlier in the day, reigning champions Real had opened up a four-point lead at the top of La Liga.
"I'm happy with the hat-trick but more happy with the win, I feel like I say that every week but it's the truth," Mbappe told Real Madrid TV.
"It was very important to win today after Atletico's result ... so we're happy and go back to Madrid with the victory."
The smiles in north-west Spain were a far cry to the grimaces in Basque-country at the start of December when Mbappe missed a penalty as Real fell to a frustrating loss at Athletic Club.
“He is not at his best level, but you have to give him time to adapt,” said Real manager Carlo Ancelotti after that match, which had come one week after a chastening 2-0 Uefa Champions League defeat at Liverpool when Mbappe had also failed to score from the spot.
That turned out to be a turning point for a player who is PSG's all-time top-scorer with 256 goals and will surely overtake Olivier Giroud's 57 to become his country's lead man. He currently has 48 in 86 games for Les Bleus.
“Bilbao did me good, because I hit rock bottom,” said Mbappe, 26, after starring in Real's 4-2 win over Sevilla in December. “Missing that penalty … I realised that I had to give my all for this shirt. Play with personality.”
“It was a good moment,” he added this week. “It changed my mentality. I couldn’t do worse: I could only go upwards.
“I was good physically, good with the team and the group but I had to do more and I knew that. It was a moment of, bam!, change everything. I didn’t come to Madrid to play badly.”
Mbappe has scored 22 goals in 32 games across competitions, while his 15 in La Liga is bettered only by Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, who has 17.
“Mbappe is bringing a lot to the team, he's been getting into a rhythm for a couple of months and today, for the first time, he scored a hat-trick for us,” said Ancelotti on Saturday.
“He’s found his rhythm and that’s a plus for us because he’s a player with a lot of quality.”
“Spectacular,” added teammate Federico Valverde. “We've always trusted him and we've tried to help him to be comfortable and happy.”
Mbappe hitting top gear will be a welcome boost for Real in what has been an up and down season so far for the reigning Spanish and European champions.
While they currently enjoy a seven-point advantage over Barcelona in the La Liga standings, their old rivals have inflicted two brutal Clasico beatings on Ancelotti's men.
In October's clash at the Bernabeu, Real were thrashed 4-0, with all the goals coming in a disastrous second-half performance that ended an unbeaten La Liga run stretching back 42 games.
More Clasico pain was to follow earlier this month in Riyadh when Barca ran out 5-2 winners in a wild Spanish Super Cup final, despite Mbappe having given Real a fifth-minute lead.
Their Uefa Champions League defence has also proven problematic with Real currently 16th in the table, having won four and lost three of their games – the defeats coming against Lille, AC Milan and Liverpool.
Wednesday's final group-stage match sees Mbappe heading back to France to take on Ligue 1 side Brest when even victory might not be enough to guarantee a last-16 spot.
Only the top eight go straight through – Real sit one point adrift but with seven teams above them – with those that finish between 9th and 24th having to play a two-legged play-off to seal a knockout-stage spot.
Real at least go into the game on a hot-streak since that Super Cup final debacle, winning four on the spin, scoring 17 along the way, including five in the Champions League victory over Red Bull Salzburg last week.
Rodrygo, Mbappe and Vinicius Junior – who is suspended for Wednesday's game – were among the goals in that home win against the Austrians. “We'll never, ever have problems playing with [those three],” said Ancelotti, “which is why, for me, we need to concentrate on getting the teamwork and the defensive work right – then we'll be just fine.”
But the Italian is also aware that keeping alive their hopes of winning a 16th European Cup will almost certainly mean coming through the play-offs. “It’s almost impossible [to get into the top eight], he said. “We have to go to Brest, try to win and see how we are in the rankings.”
