The Brazilian repeated a gesture he had shown days earlier with Ignacio, an eight-year-old boy who has overcome cancer.
Rodrygo once again proved decisive for Real Madrid, delivering another memorable night and underscoring why he is one of the players with a bright present and promising future, both at Real Madrid and on the global stage. Yet Rodrygo is more than what he produces on the field; his character shines just as brightly off it. The gesture he made in honor of his second goal against Osasuna embodies that example.
On February 15, International Childhood Cancer Day, Rodrygo had planned to visit the Juegaterapia Foundation’s headquarters to surprise Ignacio, an eight-year-old Real Madrid and Rodrygo fan who had battled Hodgkin lymphoma, a relatively rare cancer in children. Last year, a hospital visit for a fever delivered unexpected news. After months of chemotherapy, Ignacio’s family was told just days before February 15 that the lymphoma was gone.
Yet a direct visit wasn’t possible because a match against Elche stood in the way. Instead, a video message bridged the distance, with Rodrygo promising to meet Ignacio soon for a game of FIFA and to chat with other children at the foundation. Moved by Ignacio’s story of resilience, he kept his word and headed to the Juegaterapia headquarters in the days leading up to the cup final, where he met one of his biggest fans and shared a FIFA session with him and ten other children from the foundation.
Rodrygo arrived with a PS5 and a FIFA copy, gifts for Ignacio, and the pair spent an extended, joyful period playing. During the game, Ignacio scored a goal and gestured toward Rodrygo in a moment that mirrored the celebration Rodrygo would repeat when he found the net in the cup final. That gesture, seen in the decisive 2-1 victory over Osasuna, became a poignant symbol of Ignacio’s triumph and a powerful reminder of the bond between a star and a young admirer who had endured so much. The boy’s friends and family watched with awe as their hero remembered him at such a pivotal moment, a memory that would stay with Ignacio long after the applause faded.