Dani Ceballos and Santi Cazorla had a nice Twitter exchange after the former Gunner scored his first goal in four years for Spain.

Villarreal's Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla celebrates a goal during the Spanish league football match between Villarreal CF and Deportivo Alaves at La Ceramica stadium in Vila-real on March 2, 2019. (Photo by JOSE JORDAN / AFP)
Villarreal’s Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla celebrates a goal during the Spanish league football match between Villarreal CF and Deportivo Alaves at La Ceramica stadium in Vila-real on March 2, 2019. (Photo by JOSE JORDAN / AFP)

Cazorla scored in the first half of a 7-0 win over Malta on Friday, a few days after the fourth anniversary of his last goal in a 2-0 victory against England in 2015. That game was his last appearance before the lengthy injury absence that eventually saw him leave Arsenal.

Spanish head coach Robert Moreno was very impressed, saying: “What Santi’s achieving, his form, after what he went through for nearly three years with his terrible injury problems, is exceptional.

“Without guys like him and Raul and Sergio, it’s hard to win tournament semi-finals and finals.”

He wasn’t the only one though. Arsenal midfielder Dani Ceballos, on loan from Real Madrid this season, tweeted that the former Gunner should “never retire” after putting on a show for the children to learn from.

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Cazorla replied to say thank-you and wish his Spanish teammate well with his recovery:

https://twitter.com/19SCazorla/status/1195509472761917440

You can watch Cazorla’s goal from 1:18 in the video below:

It’s great to see the 34-year-old continuing his excellent form this season, with five goals and four assists at club level already. He’s obviously pushing to feature in what could be his final international tournament at Euro 2020 next summer, so fingers crossed for that.

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