Real Madrid's Juvenil A side beat Santiago Wanderers 3-1 on Saturday to win the Under-20 Intercontinental Cup at a sold-out Santiago Bernabéu, a record crowd of 52,117 for a youth match, and Roberto Martín scored the goal that settled it deep into stoppage time after coming on as a substitute in the 61st minute.
The story behind that moment stretches back exactly a year. On 16 September 2025, Roberto Martín scored and won the penalty that gave Real Madrid's Youth League side a come-from-behind win over Olympique de Marseille on matchday one of a campaign they would go on to win. This time, in the last stop on that journey, half an hour was enough for him to make his mark again.
It was also a comeback of a different kind. A severe muscle injury with tendon damage in October cost him half of the Youth League campaign and a place in Castilla's side, where he had started the season as a key player under Álvaro Arbeloa, before Arbeloa moved on to manage Fulham. A second injury, to the medial ligament in his right knee suffered in April, then ruled him out of the Youth League's Final Four and the closing weeks of the season with Castilla and Real Madrid C. In total, he missed five months of football.
This season he has returned to Castilla's starting line-up in each of the last two games, and Álvaro López, who coaches the Juvenil A side, picked him among his 23 for the Intercontinental final.
With the score level and the game heading for a tense finish, the coach turned to Martín for the last 30 minutes. He did not let the moment pass, despite playing through a heavy bandage after taking a blow to the head during the match.
The midfielder was one of the academy's most talked-about prospects at the start of last pre-season, alongside Jorge Cestero and Thiago Pitarch, and had entered Xabi Alonso's thinking enough to make his first-team debut in a friendly against Tirol alongside Pitarch, before the first injury struck.
Arbeloa, who coached him at Juvenil A level in 2024-25, the season Martín broke through, was central to his development and helped rein in a competitive streak that occasionally worked against him: he once lasted only six minutes on the pitch after two quick yellow cards against Milan in the Youth League.
After serving his suspension and having a constructive conversation with Arbeloa, he responded with a starring role in a 4-0 win away at Atalanta, providing two assists and winning a penalty.