Kevin Gameiro adorned the front page of Marca on Sunday alongside the headline "100 seconds of gold" after striking twice inside two minutes for Sevilla against Malaga, effectively putting the game out of reach for the visitors and extending his side's impressive winning home run.
The 28-year-old French striker's first touch was sublime as he ran onto Adil Rami's long pass and dinked the ball over Carlos Kameni. Then, almost from the restart, Gameiro started and finished a neat move with Vitolo, chipping over the advancing goalkeeper to earn a rarely given '9' rating from Marca.
The win over their Andalucian rivals means Sevilla have now won nine consecutive home games in La Liga. Unbeaten at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in the Primera Division in over a year until both Celta Vigo and Atletico Madrid won there earlier this season, Sevilla are making their noisy stadium a fortress again.
If only Unai Emery's men could get their act together on the road, they would undoubtedly be mounting a serious challenge to the top three. They have yet to win away from home this term and the Coach must be beside himself in the search for an answer to his side's poor away form.
Defeats at Las Palmas, Real Sociedad and, most recently, Granada, have been hard to understand. Sanchez Pizjuan is an intimidating place for visiting sides, yet Sevilla appear visibly cowed themselves when venturing into opposition territory, losing four times on the road, scoring only five goals and still without a win.
Meanwhile, Gameiro has scored 11 of his team's 28 goals in 18 Primera appearances this season and has already passed the modest eight he netted in 2014-15. He hit a hat-trick as Sevilla destroyed Getafe 5-0 in October and grabbed a brace against Sporting Gijon in December before last weekend's double against Malaga.
Sometimes injury prone and not always finding form, Gameiro has been Emery's first choice front man in recent weeks, with Fernando Llorente forced to occupy a place on the Sevilla bench for much of the campaign. The numbers speak for themselves, however, with the former Juventus striker on target just three times in 14 appearances to date.
A major part of Gameiro's value to Sevilla is his ability to play either as a central striker or out on the right. In a wider role, the former understudy to Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Paris Saint-Germain set up Michael Krohn-Dehli to score against Barcelona back in October, while his performance against Malaga highlighted his ability to both create and finish.
Mindful of a busy fixture list ahead, with his side in Europa League contention and a difficult appointment looming at Primera leaders Atletico Madrid on Sunday, Emery may opt to rest Gameiro as Sevilla look to avoid a potential banana skin against Mirandes in the Copa deal Rey on Thursday night.
Emery's preferred striker is equally effective as an impact substitute as he is in the starting XI, having scored five times after coming off the bench in La Liga matches. With three competitions most definitely alive for Sevilla, Los Nervionenses are looking to Gameiro to lead the charge to success.
