He had gone from Celta Vigo to Hoffenheim, to Frankfurt and Hannover, from Stoke City to a club now in the Spanish third division. He stopped at middling Newcastle, then Alavés. He spent last season at Espanyol, unsuccessfully fighting relegation. Joselu, at this time last year, was a 33-year-old journeyman on a path toward anonymity — until Real Madrid called.
Now, he’s a Champions League hero.
For most of his winding career, you’d probably never heard of him. But on Wednesday night, under the Santiago Bernabeu’s beaming lights, he stunned Bayern Munich with two last-gasp goals in a Champions League semifinal. He rescued the kings of Europe from a 1-0 deficit. He sent Real Madrid, a club steeped in mystique and talent, to yet another Champions League final — with a dramatic 2-1 win, 4-3 on aggregate.
And when he heard the final whistle, he fell to the ground, his body outstretched, his face in his hands and in the grass. Teammates piled on top of him.
Moments later, he looked around the palatial stadium, almost in disbelief — just like anybody who’s followed his journey.
Less than two years ago, he went to Paris as a fan with a replica jersey, to support Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
Tonight and perhaps for eternity, he’s the toast of the most successful soccer club ever.
His is the latest chapter in a long story whose outcome sometimes feels inevitable. Real Madrid, year after year, round after round, just seems to find a way to make Champions League magic. They won the first five European Cups, beginning in the 1950s. They won eight between 1998 and the one at which Joselu cheered them on, in 2022.
The characters keep changing, but no matter who they are, no matter where they’re from, no matter how forcefully their opponent peppers their goal, no matter how long they stare down a deficit, they rise to occasions like this one.
They trailed Wednesday night after Alphonso Davies’ second-half screamer, which put Bayern ahead 1-0 and 3-2 aggregate.
But they’d also trailed in the quarterfinals. They’d trailed in every round en route to the 2022 final. There was hardly any doubt that they’d come back again.
Source Agencies
