Ander Herrera’s last competitive outing came at a thunderous La Bombonera, representing Boca Juniors in the Copa Libertadores.
His next will be in Spain’s third tier, in front of about 6,500 fans, against regional opponents Gimnastic de Tarragona.
Yet Herrera says his free-transfer return from Boca to Real Zaragoza is as meaningful as any move of his career.
Speaking to BBC Sport, he called it the final dream he wanted to fulfil.
Coming home to the club that raised him and gave him his start, he says, shaped him not just as a footballer but as a person.
He adds that his passion remains undimmed and that finishing his career back home feels like the right ending.
For him, it’s about bringing his journey full circle.
The midfielder returns to his boyhood side after 15 years away, a period that included two spells with Athletic Club and stints at Manchester United, Paris St-Germain and Boca.
Now 37, he has won the Europa League, the FA Cup and multiple league titles, worked under Jose Mourinho, Thomas Tuchel and Marcelo Bielsa, and shared dressing rooms with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Wayne Rooney.
Zaragoza, however, have endured lean years, a stark contrast to the team that beat Arsenal in the 1995 Cup Winners’ Cup final.
Relegated from La Liga in 2012-13—two years after Herrera left for Bilbao—the club slid through 13 seasons of decline in the second division before dropping into Spain’s notoriously demanding third tier.
Watching from a distance, Herrera says the fall has been painful for every Zaragozista.
He believes Real Zaragoza should be competing for trophies and challenging Spain and Europe’s biggest clubs.
His goal is to channel his quality, experience and passion to help restore the team to where he feels it belongs.
Since coming back, he has urged people to stop fixating on past failures.
Constant negativity, he says, only weighs everyone down; it’s time to move on.
He wants the focus on building for the future—and arriving to training each day with a smile.