Just like that, after 24 years yo-yoing between the Spanish second and third divisions, Real Oviedo are back in the big time. It was a team effort, but one man was the heart and soul behind the promotion. This one is for the romantics.
By Alex Roberts
As a boy, Santi Cazorla spent his time roaming the Roman roads of Llanera, dreaming of playing for his local team, Real Oviedo. Now, he’s a 40-year-old man with kids of his own, doubtless playing on those same streets, and he’s the one behind their promotion.
It’s been a hell of a journey. From Spain to North London and back again, he then spent three years in Qatar with Al-Sadd before joining Oviedo in the summer of 2023. Despite playing there as a youngster, Cazorla never made a senior appearance for Oviedo before being snapped up by Villareal in 2003.
Cazorla didn’t want to leave the club he joined as an eight-year-old. Following their relegation from LaLiga in 2001, Oviedo were sent further down the pyramid in 2003, forced to play in the fourth tier due to the club’s dire financial situation. For the good of the club he loved, he left but kept looking over his shoulder, yearning.
When the prodigal son finally returned, he was hailed as a hero. Real Oviedo are by no means a small club but it’s not every day someone of Cazorla’s pedigree walks through the doors at the Estadio Carlos Tartiere.
He didn’t join for the money either, this wasn’t one big pay day for a player in the twilight of his career, in all honesty, he had that when he went to the Middle East. The club was transparent with how much he would be paid, €91,000 a season to be exact. “I would play for free, but you’re not allowed,” he said.
Money wasn’t an issue but fitness sure was. While at Arsenal, he picked up an injury that would see him miss 619 days and 122 games for club and country. Arsène Wenger described it as the worst he had ever seen, and he’s seen a fair few.
After 12 surgeries, his Achilles Tendon was virtually non-existent. Ten centimeters was removed, more than we knew was possible, with the doctor slicing the tattoo he has of his daughter’s name in half for a skin graft. It was a miracle he could wiggle his toes, never mind play professional football.
He finally made his Real Oviedo debut at the ripe old age of 38, ancient in footballing terms, coming on for just one minute in the 1-0 defeat to Real Valladolid. Oviedo had the chance to earn promotion in 2023-24 but fell at the last hurdle, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Espanyol in the play-off final.
When the final whistle blew and the dust settled, Cazorla had a decision to make. Call it a day, end a career that had seen him lift more trophies than he ever would have expected, or go again. Of course, he went again.
In 2024-25, Oviedo and Cazorla stepped up their game, earning a third placed finish, just two points off the automatic promotion places. It was a pretty perfect metaphor for his career, nothing comes easy.
They drew Almería in their play-off semifinal, traveling to their ground for the first leg and earning a vital 2-1 win, thanks to a brace from right-back Nacho Vidal. Cazorla played, of course, but it wasn’t until the next game he really came through.
Fans were waving scarves and singing like their lives depended on it, in many ways they did. Hearts fell into their collective stomachs after Jaime Seoane was deemed to have handled the ball in the box. It was rifled at him from about two feet away, but the ref didn’t care, he wasted no time in pointing to the spot.
Gonzalo Melero converted, sending Aaron Escandell the wrong way to make it 2-2 on aggregate. Half-time came and went, Seoane was replaced by the man himself, and the game completely changed.
Three minutes after being introduced, Cazorla found himself standing over a very dangerous freekick. His eyes narrowed, right eyebrow raised, and he placed it expertly in the bottom left corner. It’s almost like he’d been in that kind of situation before.
One the game was over, manager Veljko Paunović embraced Cazorla while his teammates fell to the turf, exhausted and relieved that they had made it to their second consecutive play-off final, determined to ensure this one wouldn’t end like the last.
Just three minutes into the first leg of the final it looked like it would. CD Mirandés winger Alberto Reina scored, leaping above his defender to nod the ball into the back of the net. Cazorla missed the game, watching on from the sidelines after picking up a slight knee injury.
Mirandes took the lead in the 16th minute and the switch in Cazorla’s beautiful brain flipped. He took complete control of the game and when his side were awarded a penalty, he picked up the ball, kissed it, before converting.
Ilyas Chaira made it 2-1 just after the break to send it to extra-time. In the 72nd minute, Cazorla was spent, he had given everything he had to the cause, it was time to pass the torch and trust his teammates to get the job done.
Francisco Portillo, who isn’t a young man either, scored the fated goal that secured promotion back to La Liga. Oviedo fans rushed the pitch and Cazorla was lifted onto the shoulders of former player now club doctor Diego Cervero.
An entire generation of Oviedo fans have been waiting to see the big boys come to their town. They lined the streets to thank he who had left a boy but returned as a man.
“It’s mad, ridiculous really that the best moment of my life is this at 40,” Cazorla said, looking over a crowd that filled Avenida Galicia as far as they eye could see. “I have been lucky to live great things; I have won titles, cups, but I have suckled on Oviedo since I was a kid, the feeling here is different. This is unique.” That just about sums it up.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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