"We knew we were in a difficult situation," reflected Koeman, "when you have the knife at your neck, you need a big reaction. We have done this in the last two games and now we must continue like this."

"It's been a fantastic few days," admitted Koeman, whose birthday fell between the two victories, "We now are feeling joy after beating Barcelona and winning at the Bernabeu. This doesn't often happen and it will bring a new confidence to our game.

"This team has showed it's capable of playing very well. We now must believe in ourselves more. We're now in better shape than we were a couple of weeks ago."