Thomas Vermaelen is determined to continue proving his worth after scoring his first goal for Barcelona to settle Saturday’s tight encounter with Malaga at the Nou Camp.

The reigning champions were frustrated by several saves from visiting keeper Carlos Kameni, who denied Lionel Messi alone on four separate occasions as Barca struggled to make the breakthrough.

But the home side eventually grabbed the points with a strike from Vermaelen inside the final 20 minutes, with the Belgian defender latching onto a loose ball following a half-cleared cross and swiping home a fierce left-footed strike.

And Vermaelen has now pledged to use his match-winning performance as a launching pad for his Nou Camp career, after missing nearly the whole of his first season in Spain through injury.

“I couldn’t prove what I’m about last year,” he said. “People don’t see us train so fans didn’t know me and last year was really hard for me.”

Vermaelen has earned a place in the starting XI as a result of Gerard Pique’s four-game suspension, with boss Luis Enrique selecting the Belgian ahead of other options Marc Bartra and Jeremy Mathieu.

And he is delighted to have rewarded Enrique with a decisive intervention on Saturday, saying: “Scoring my first goal was very special, particularly because it served to give the team the three points.

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“The gaffer giving me these games means a lot. I’m very happy about that.”

The central defender celebrated his goal in notably understated fashion considering the matchwinning importance of the strike and the fact it was his first for the club.

But having netted his last goal way back in December 2012, in Arsenal’s infamous League Cup defeat against Bradford, he joked: “I didn’t celebrate because I’m not used to scoring goals so I didn’t know what to do!”

Team-mate Neymar, meanwhile, has dismissed far-fetched reports linking him with a move to Manchester United after returning to action following a bout of illness.

The Brazilian winger said: “I want to stay at Barcelona, no matter how many million pound offers come from England. The people at Barca can be calm.”