Barcelona's Lionel Messi praised the performance of Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart after the England number one made a string of outstanding saves to avoid his side being humbled in Wednesday's Champions League last-16 second leg.
Barca won 1-0 on the night, and progressed 3-1 on aggregate to the quarterfinals. But the scoreline would have been very different without Hart regularly denying Messi and strike partners Neymar and Luis Suarez throughout the 90 minutes at the Camp Nou.
The Argentine told Canal Plus after the game that Hart had stopped "everything" and deserved to be congratulated for his performance.
"[Hart] saved everything," Messi said. "We did everything to score more goals, and their keeper played a great game and we can just congratulate him. But we were able to go through, which was the most important thing."
Messi said he was happy with how Barca played and how things were currently going for him personally.
"I have the feeling that we played a great game," he said. "We are playing very well but important things are coming. Madrid, the quarterfinals. I feel good and am enjoying myself, but there is a long way to go yet."
Real Madrid and their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo go into Sunday's Clasico at the Camp Nou in a much less happy state. However, Messi warned that Los Blancos could be even more dangerous given how much is on the line for them.
"You must have a lot of respect for them," he said. "Madrid are more dangerous like this. We cannot say they are doing badly or in poor form. Individually they have impressive players, but that is when they become stronger. We will try and play our game, the same as always."
Asked how Barca had bounced back from being in crisis in January to now looking well set for a possible treble of Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey trophies, Messi said it was normal for all seasons to have ups and downs.
"As I said before, we began the season playing a different way, with renewed spirit and motivation, and we began well," he said. "We had some dips, there are a lot of games, but the important thing is we are in good form and we must stretch it out."