Its almost a year to the day since that fateful night in Irun when Rubén De la Red had the whole of the footballing world fearing the worst. On 30th October 2008, during a cup match away to Real Unión, De la Red was running back to position in anticipation of a goal kick when he suddenly fell face down the turf. As he lay motionless, everyone watching saw flashbacks to the tragic death of Sevilla´s Antonio Puerta the season before. Fellow players and club doctors rushed to his aid and to the relief of all, Rubén regained consciousness and was promptly taken to hospital for tests.
One year on and the Spanish international is still no nearer to finding out exactly what the problem is. Originally diagnosed as a heart syncope, all that is known is that his heart stopped beating momentarily. Other than that all medical examinations on the player have proved inconclusive, which means he is no closer to a comeback.
To those who have seen him play regularly, Rubén is a sublime footballer, who was on the verge of a huge breakthrough in Spanish football. After three years in the Real Madrid B team, he was sent to Getafe to get a taste of first team action in La Liga and it proved a masterstroke. Getafe, only a small suburb outside Madrid, enjoyed one of the the most successful seasons in their history, playing an stylish and attacking brand of football with De la Red the brain in the middle. He then went on to make the triumphant Spain squad for Euro 2008, and scored a cracker against Greece in the third group stage match. Real Madrid immediately called him back, and he scored another belter in the Spanish version of the Community Shield (Supercopa) against Valencia. It´s this immense promise and talent that makes the whole episode even more of a bitter pill to swallow.
Rubén makes it clear he feels fortunate, he says it could have been worse. He states his role as father as a useful therapy to help him come to terms with it all and although he isnt prepared to take any risks, he still harbours hope that he will make a return. The player is taking mental strength, humility and determination to a new level, so fingers crossed it´s not the last we´ve seen of him on the playing field.