Real Madrid star Rafael van der Vaart is delighted with his hat-trick scored in this week's 7-1 romp over Sporting Gijon.

The Dutch ace said: "Wednesday night was a dream for me. To score a goal in the Bernabeu is wonderful, so to get three in one game is unbelievable.

"I'm very happy for everything that happened in the encounter with Sporting."

Asked about his back-heeled goal, Van der Vaart smiled: "I was very confident that if I tried to do something like this it would work out well.

"I'm very happy. It's normal. I slept only two hours after the match because I was so excited."