Thanks to Vicente del Bosque’s confidence I made my way to Spain’s first team when I was still 20. My relationship with ‘la Roja’ started on the 28th of March 2009, replacing David Villa in a game against Turkey at the Bernabéu (my first call-up had been before, in November 2008, but I didn’t get to play any minute). After playing the Confederations Cup in South Africa in the summer of 2009, and scoring my first goal (September 2009, against Estonia), one of the best moments of my career (if not the best one) arrived: the World Cup in South Africa, where we became World Champions for the first time in the history of Spain. Surrounded by fantastic footballers, and thanks to Iniesta’s goal, we touched the sky!
Luckily, that was not the end. In 2012 we achieved something amazing, something no other team had done before: being able to win Euro Cup, World Cup and Euro Cup in a row. The tournament took place in Poland and Ukraine and, once again, destiny had a present for me. I jumped onto the pitch in the last few minutes of the final and almost with my first touch I scored that historic 4-0 after an assist by Fernando Torres. Another day to keep in my list of unforgettable memories!
Later on I also played the Confederations Cup (2013) and the World Cup in Brazil (2014). I have scored 11 goals with the national team so far; I hope there are still many games and important tournaments to play with Spain.