Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani was "really happy" to end his dip in form by scoring the winning goal in Tuesday's 2-1 Champions League victory over Chelsea.
Cavani, 29, came on as a substitute and won the round-of-16 first leg match at the Parc des Princes when he made a perfectly-timed run and fired past Thibaut Courtois in the 78th minute.
The Uruguay international had lost his place in the starting lineup following a dip in form that coincided with him annoying some teammates by leaving early for his Christmas holidays.
Manager Laurent Blanc later said he had discussed Cavani's behaviour with senior players at PSG's winter training camp, and has since preferred to start Lucas Moura alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Angel Di Maria.
But after hitting his 15th goal of the season to grab an advantage over Chelsea, Cavani told BeIN sports: "I'm really happy. Strikers live thanks to our goals, and scoring goals breathes new life into us.
"To score this goal was very important. The last while has been difficult -- I've made a big effort to change things."
Meanwhile, former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier said French champions PSG had produced their best performance of the season.
The runaway Ligue 1 leaders were pegged back when Jon Obi Mikel cancelled out Zlatan Ibrahimovic's opener before Cavani struck.
And speaking to Le Parisien, Houllier said PSG had been "very, very good," adding: "There was a very strong opposition. This Chelsea team was completely different to the one I've been watching for the past few months.
"The English delivered an excellent performance. A guy like Pedro could have scored at the end. That shows that Chelsea never gave up, nor that they wanted to content themselves with a narrow defeat. That increases the Parisian worth.
"Honestly, I really enjoyed the quality of the spectacle. We had two teams who wanted to play. It's good to see matches like this one."
He singled out goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who faced criticism earlier in the season for making high-profile errors against Bordeaux in Ligue 1 and Real Madrid in the Champions League group stages, for praise.
"The excellent performance of Kevin Trapp has to be noted," he said. "The save he made from Diego Costa in the first half was not only decisive, it was also exceptional."