Football: At 40, Santi Cazorla brings his training club, Real Oviedo, back into La Liga

It's the great story of the day. 24 years later, Real Oviedo is back in the top flight of Spanish football. Its captain, the excellent Santi Cazorla, led his youth club to promotion to the first division this season. The Spaniard scored a direct free kick in the play-off semi-final against Almería before coolly securing his penalty in the final against Mirandes.

It was a bad start, with a 1-0 defeat in the first leg, but Cazorla and Oviedo turned things around in the return leg at home, winning 3-1 after extra time. The match ended 10-9! A sign of the tension and the stakes at the Carlos Tartiere stadium on June 21.

Santi Cazorla played for some of the biggest clubs, including Arsenal between 2012 and 2018. He suffered a serious injury there. The Spaniard suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in 2016 against Ludogorets in the Champions League.

The playmaker almost had part of his leg amputated due to a terrible infection that developed following the injury. Doctors even told him he would have difficulty walking for the rest of his life and that football was out of the question. Cazorla decided otherwise.

In 2023, after three years at Al-Sadd, he decided to return to his training club, with which he hadn't even turned pro: Real Oviedo, stuck in the lower divisions for more than two decades. He agreed to only receive a small salary for the love of the jersey.

You know the rest of the story. Santi Cazorla managed to steer Oviedo back into La Liga after a nail-biting final against Mirandes this season. The 40-year-old Spaniard may be treated to one last dance in the Iberian football elite before hanging up his boots for good.

Lloris, Giroud, Cavani, Thiago Silva... These are the famous faces of French football who will be playing in the Club World Cup

Access the slideshow (19)