Santi Cazorla scored twice against Real Madrid as his Villarreal side carved out a decent draw in La Liga on Thursday night.
As you well know, the 34-year-old midfielder has had it particularly rough over the past two years, the majority of which (636 days in total) he spent dealing manfully with a chronic achilles tendon injury that should have, by rights, ended his professional career.
Against all the odds, Cazorla battled his way back to first-team selection and the sheer joyful catharsis was evident when he opened the scoring against Real with just four minutes gone at the Estadio Ceramica…
Real soon seized the lead via a couple of quick goals from Karim Benzema (‘7) and Raphael Varane (’20) but sure enough it was Cazorla who rescued a precious point for the Yellow Submarines with an 82nd-minute effort to complete his brace.
The result saw Villarreal maintain their slim grasp on 17th place, with a +4 goal difference the only barrier between them and the relegation zone at the moment.