As a new Syria emerges from the ashes of a brutal dictatorship, thousands of miles away in Spain refugee Osama Abdul Mohsen is considering returning to the country he left in dramatic circumstances nine years ago.
In 2015, the football coach and his son Zaid hit headlines around the world when they were tripped as they ran desperately to cross the border from Serbia to Hungary.
At first, it seemed as if they had fallen but then Mohsen realised he had been intentionally felled by a Hungarian camera operator Petra László, who stuck her boot out as they tried to run.
The incident sparked global outrage and an outpouring of sympathy.
When Mohsen crossed the border into Germany, he received a call which changed his life.
Cenafe, a Spanish academy which trains football coaches in Getafe, a town south of Madrid, had seen the video with Mohsen and his son and reached out to offer him a job.
A former coach for the Syrian first division team al-Fotuwa, he did not need to think twice and accepted the job.
Suddenly, after his hellish flight from Syria, Mohsen was feted as a new coach. Zaid was taken onto the pitch at Real Madrid with Ronaldo.
Nine years later, after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Mohsen is considering returning home.
“I am waiting to see what happens in Syria. At present it is a little early to know what to do. Everything is up in the air,” he told The i Paper.
“I have tried to get in touch with my family over the years, but it is difficult. There is no internet, and it is hard, but I have been able to speak to people at times. I have missed Syria, the people and things about the culture.”
A year after being handed a job as a trainer in Spain, he was sacked for “not learning Spanish”, Cenafe said in a statement.
Today, the 60-year-old lives in Barcelona where he coaches a youth team, C.F. Montañesa but does it on a voluntary basis.
Mr Abdul Mohsen lives with Zaid, who is now 15, and his two other sons and his daughter, who are all in their twenties.
He has split from his wife who initially was refused asylum in Spain because of problems with her paperwork. He does not know her whereabouts.
“I like living in Spain, it is a good country. They have treated me very well. I moved from Madrid to be with my older sons who live here in Barcelona,” he said in Spanish.
“It is great news that Assad has gone. We hope that we will get a better country now.”
Spain was never the family’s plan when they left Syria in 2014. After Assad’s army shelled their home in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, they hoped to reach Germany.
With Zaid, Mohsen boarded a boat designed to fit 20 but which was carrying 50 people and headed for Greece.
So began a long trek across Europe, along with thousands of other Syrian refugees.
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