Real Oviedo end 24-year wait for La Liga return as Oviedo beat Mirandés 3-2 on aggregate after 3-1 victory.
Santi Cazorla scores in playoff as Real Oviedo end 24-year wait for La Liga return.
40-year-old Santi Cazorla scored in Real Oviedo’s 3-2 aggregate triumph over Mirandés, which guaranteed their return to La Liga after a 24-year absence.
With goals from Cazorla, Ilyas Chaira, and Francisco Portillo, Oviedo overcame a first-leg deficit to win 3-1 at home on Saturday in the promotion playoff. At the final whistle, fans rushed the ground, causing a commotion in the crowded Estadio Carlos Tartiere.
At the age of eight, Cazorla joined Oviedo’s youth squad, where he witnessed his idols, Petr Dubovsky, Slavisa Jokanovic, Robert Prosinecki, and Carlos Munoz, play. Ten years later, a financial crisis at the club forced him to quit against his choice.
He fulfilled the fairy tale by bringing his boyhood club back into the major leagues after scoring the game-winning goal from a free kick in the playoff semi-final matchup against Almería. After Mirandés had taken a two-goal lead in the two-leg match thanks to a goal from Joaquin Panichelli, Cazorla scored from the penalty spot in the first half of the second leg. Chair’s goal in the second half forced extra time, and two minutes before halftime, Portillo scored the game-winning goal to excite the home crowd.
The team from Asturias, in northwest Spain, will replace demoted Leganés, Las Palmas, and Valladolid in the first division next season, joining Levante and Elche.
Oviedo’s coach, Veljko Paunovic, told La Liga TV: “There’s no way to describe what this means to us. These players are heroes, every single one of them. They deserve great recognition.”