Manchester United Nani left the USA after a star-spangled display that has shown his Manchester United rivals he is up for the fight.
The Portuguese winger has responded superbly to the challenge for his first-team place laid down by Antonio Valencia and the purchase of Ashley Young.
He scored the opening goal in a 2-1 revenge win over Barcelona here on Saturday as United ended their American tour in style.
Now he wants his first-team place back after losing it towards the end of last season.
Nani, 24, said: "I will try. I want to do much better than last season.
"Competition is good, it inspires you. If you have competition, you will train harder and push yourself in every game.
"I can get better. That is what I am trying to do. It is not easy but it is what I look to achieve every year.
"If I can get more goals and more assists, that will be good for the team and help us in all the competitions we are going for."
Nani certainly looked up for it at the FedEx Field before a record crowd for a football game in Washington of 81,807.
The United star failed to make the starting line-up for the Champions League final defeat to Barca exactly nine weeks earlier at Wembley and was determined to show what he could do.
He opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. Danny Welbeck supplied a through ball from halfway and a sprinting Nani just beat the offside trap.
He roared into the box before providing a cool finish between the legs of keeper Victor Valdes - and then executing his trademark backflip.
It was a reminder of how Nani had performed for the vast majority of last season, when he hit 10 goals and was the top Premier League player for assists with 18 before Valencia returned from a broken ankle to take his place in the side.
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