With 60 years and after ten months stopped by a serious injury: the expected return to Madrid’s ‘kid’ Osvaldo

02/18/2025

Updated at 11: 09h.

The rivals’ question has been repeated every weekend since the beginning of the League. Doesn’t he play with you anymore, has he hung his boots? Without spotlights or media coverage, adding seasons, Osvaldo Fabián Iglesias It has become a Madrid soccer classic, where mouth has made this Argentine a reference in the modest stadiums of the community. With 60 years and the illusion of a child, it continues to be part of the AD la Cabrera, which this weekend celebrated the return of the idol to the land after ten months of absence due to a serious injury. The return of the ‘kid’, an institution in the team of his people who are not stopped either the age or physical problems.

«As his coach I can tell you that he is one of those players that one is not found every day, an example to follow. He plays and trains as if he’s many less years. It is not just his physique who resists, it is his head that does not give up, ”he explains to this newspaper Fernando García López, current coach of the team that Osvaldo has been defending since 1992 and in which everyone, although a very original nickname is not, refer to him as ‘the grandfather’. As a good Argentine, this veteran of Olivos (province of Buenos Aires) looks DNA football and as a child dreamed of reaching professionalism. A wish that he could never see fulfilled despite starting in the lower categories of the Platense, although with 60 years he is still active in an idol, at least in La Cabrerathe small town in northern Madrid in which it resides.

The Ad la CabreraSet of Second Fans, the last category of Madrid regional football, celebrated on Monday in his networks the return of the footballer, an architect by profession «The adjectives fall short when talking about Osvaldo Fabián Iglesias, his story is an ode to passion for football ». A return after much effort and sacrifice because in April 2024 he suffered a Partial rupture of the ischiotibial ligament and a degenerative process in the ischion (hip bone). “With the age that has more other injuries that he has overcome throughout his career, the recovery process is slower,” they explain to ABC from their team. But nothing stops Osvaldo, a lover of the ball that also trains in the lower categories of his club.

That accident in the ligament was not the first serious physical problem of Osvaldo, awarded by the Madrid Football Federation in 2022. With 36 years he already suffered the breakage of a femur cartilage, which forced him to strengthen himself mentally so as not to end to his career, as the doctor who operated it was advised. What has changed is his position in the field: he started a striker, turned to midfielder and now exercises as a right side. «He is a very committed player and when he trains, nothing is stored, without fuss, working in silence and giving everything, that is clearly what makes him remain competitive and to follow up. Follow in the team for my own merits, ”says Fernando García.

Sunday had an unbeatable reappearance. Victoria against Talamanca B (1-5) with Osvaldo playing the 90 minutes of a match in which he did not stop running through the band and in which he put a measured center for him to Your son Diego He will score one of the goals. Born in 2003, his father already had a decade in the team when he came into the world, on Sunday they agreed again in a football field, sport that also practices Nahuel (2008), the second son of the Argentine. In his case, far from La Cabrera because he belongs to the youth B of Atlético Chopera Alcobendas 04.

«Having someone like Osvaldo in the costume is a luxury, not only because There are no means half inks. It is a reference in La Cabrera, ”says the coach of the team of this town of just over 2,000 inhabitants. A municipality that presumes its football team, because the category of a club does not depend only on the division in which it militates.