Javier Hernandez has not needed many appearances to write his name into the long and famous history of Real Madrid.
The Mexico international struck a late goal to give Real a 1-0 home victory over city rivals Atletico on Wednesday and fire Los Blancos into a fifth straight semi-final of the Champions League.
Chicharito, who has made 25 appearances but just seven starts for Real since joining the Spanish giants on loan from Manchester United last summer, said on the club's official website: "Every goal I've scored during my career has been important, they all fill me with confidence.
"This was a collective effort, it was a great assist by Cristiano Ronaldo and we all covered a lot of ground and battled hard.
"We deserved to win. This win was the work of the whole team, the fans, my team-mates.
"I dedicate it to my family and everyone who has shown faith in me."
With Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric unavailable through injury, Real coach Carlo Ancelotti handed Chicharito a rare start on Wednesday and it paid dividends.
The 26-year-old scored his sixth goal for Real and his first in the competition this season.
"We have to congratulate Javier because it has been a difficult year for him," Ancelotti said. "He hasn't played much but he has always trained well, fought hard and made sacrifices.
"At the end of the day he deserves this.
"He played really well, he was very lively. He deserved to score that goal, a massively important goal for us."
Prior to Wednesday's victory, Real had failed to beat Atletico in their previous seven meetings since last year's Champions League final which they won in Lisbon.
The Rojiblancos frustrated Real in last week's goalless draw in the opening leg at the Vicente Calderon stadium.
"It's a derby and things had not been going well for us since lifting la Decima (10th European cup)," Chicharito said. "Atletico are a very worthy rival.
"They won La Liga last year and were Champions League finalists.
"But we were deserved winners.
"In order to win the Champions League you have to beat the best team."
Real have joined Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich in the last four of the competition and will find out in Friday's draw in Nyon who they will face in the next round.
"We respect all of the three sides in the draw," Ancelotti said. "Whatever happens, these teams deserve to be in the semi-finals.
"As long as we show that same commitment, Real Madrid will have no problem competing against any team."
Los Blancos expect to have Bale and Benzema available in the next round of the competition.
Bale is sidelined with a muscular injury while Benzema is out with a knee problem and the pair are unlikely to feature in Sunday's Primera Division game at Celta Vigo.
"Now our players have time to recover from injuries and things will improve," Ancelotti said."We can sort out the Bale and Benzema situations soon but w e can't give an exact date yet though."
Real are second in the Primera Division, two points adrift of league leaders Barcelona with six games remaining.
Source: PA
