Fresh from his best performance of the season, Bruno Fornaroli says he is finally playing without pain after an A-League season of misery.
And how it showed at AAMI Park, where the Uruguayan led Melbourne City to a 3-0 destruction of in-form Western Sydney.
City snapped a six-week winless run with the defeat, which Fornaroli said was sorely required.
"After three losses and one draw we needed one game like this," he said.
"We needed three points. We got it and now it's a little bit more calm and we try to work a little bit more relaxed."
City moved closer to a home final with the result, with a four-point gap between themselves and fifth-placed Adelaide United with just three games left.
More important than the mathematics was Fornaroli's return.
The 30-year-old missed the opening five months of the season with a broken ankle, returning incrementally over the last month.
Against the Wanderers, the golden boot winner played a hand not unlike Mark Viduka, holding off his man and playing in those around him with great effect.
He scored the opener after arriving on a loose ball in the box and set up City's third with a lovely backheel flick.
Fornaroli said he hadn't felt pain in his ankle for a week.
"My ankle let me play free," he said. "This week I trained much better than the last week ... I didn't have to think about the pain.
"I felt great, like normal. It's a great time to enjoy."
The result revitalises City's previously flatlining season.
Fornaroli said he was driven by City's long-stated aim of making the AFC Champions League, which is most likely with a top three finish.
"Not only for me. It's what the team wants, the club wants, the fans want," he said.
"We have to fight. We are close and I say again, we want to fight to the end."