Xavi Quintilla endured the thin edge of the wedge admitted Daniel Farke during his eventful Norwich City loan stint.

The Spanish left back rifled a stunning free kick in the title-clinching Championship win over Reading as he deputised for the suspended Dimitris Giannoulis.

Quintilla arrived on a season-long loan from Villarreal as the club’s first choice option but injury and then coronavirus ruled him out, before Giannoulis was recruited in January.

The 24-year-old will return to his parent club in the summer, but has left his mark on the Canaries.

“Everyone loves him in this group. He is such a great personality,” said the City chief. “He was struggling with so many odds against him during the season. He deserved that moment.

"At times it was even cruel to leave him out of the squad because he is so unbelievably professional, always with a smile on his face. Plus he has lots of quality.

“Yes, it was a difficult season for him on a personal level but he totally deserves to be in the spotlight in these last few games.

"I actually said to him if I had played him in each and every game he would have ended up with the golden boot, because in the last games he seems to score every time. A great lad.

“It means a lot to be one of the members who have represented this yellow shirt. A fantastic player and even more importantly a fantastic human being.”

Quintilla also notched the previous weekend at QPR in an extended run due to Giannoulis’ ban. The Greek is available for this weekend’s league finale at Barnsley, and the PAOK loanee will complete a permanent move this summer, ahead of the club’s Premier League return.

But Farke is not poised to experiment at Oakwell with one eye already on next season.

“Not at all, not at all, because I'm too professional for this to try some experiments,” he said. “There is so much time between the end of this season and the next.

"We will also probably have a different set up within the group. I'm not a believer in something like this.

“First we wanted to make sure that were promoted and once we were promoted, and there were still a few games left, then it was more like, ‘okay, then we also want to finish in the top position and win the title’.

"And once this is done then to stay unbeaten and get near to 100 points.

"We will fight until the last second for each and every point. And this is also our attitude. This was the attitude from the first second until the last.”