Santi Cazorla Inspires Boy-Hood Club Real Oviedo’s Emotional Return To La Liga After 24-Year Wait

Add as a preferred source on Google

Real Oviedo have sealed a fairytale return to La Liga after 24 long years, thanks to a dramatic 3-1 victory over CD Mirandés in the second leg of the Segunda División play-off final.

The win, played out in front of a raucous crowd at Estadio Carlos Tartiere, overturned a first-leg deficit and sparked wild celebrations as jubilant fans flooded the pitch at full-time.

Leading the remarkable comeback was none other than 40-year-old Santi Cazorla, the former Arsenal and Spain midfielder, who converted a crucial penalty late in the first half to breathe life into Oviedo's promotion hopes. His strike reduced the aggregate score to 2-1 and laid the foundation for a stirring revival in the second half.

Oviedo equalised in the second half through Ilyas Chaira, setting up a tense finale. With both teams deadlocked on aggregate, the game went into extra time. Francisco Portillo then stepped up with a sensational goal to seal the tie and confirm Oviedo's long-awaited promotion to Spain's top division.

Oviedo will now join Levante and Elche in La Liga next season, taking the place of Leganes, Las Palmas, and Valladolid, who were relegated at the end of the campaign.

An emotional Veljko Paunović, the head coach of Oviedo, praised his side's grit and determination. "There's no way to describe what this means to us. These players are heroes, every single one of them. They deserve great recognition," he told LaLiga TV after the match.

For Cazorla, the moment was especially poignant. A product of Real Oviedo's academy, he was forced to leave in 2003 when the club's financial collapse dismantled its youth system and sent the first team tumbling into the third tier. Yet, despite a glittering career in Spain and England, Cazorla never forgot his roots.

When Oviedo hit financial turmoil again in the early 2010s, Cazorla joined thousands of fans and former players in buying shares to help rescue the club. His emotional return in 2023, after two decades away, was seen as a homecoming. Now, he's led the team back to where it belongs - the pinnacle of Spanish football.

This wasn't his only decisive contribution during the playoffs. Cazorla also scored a vital free-kick in the semi-final clash against Almería, securing a 3-2 aggregate win and paving the way for Oviedo's grand return.

For the city of Oviedo and its passionate supporters, this promotion marks the end of a long wait and the beginning of a new chapter. And at the heart of it all stands Santi Cazorla - the hometown hero who came full circle to deliver La Liga football once again.