Joselu became the hero of last Wednesday night when Real Madrid defeated extremely Bayern Munich scored 2 goals to 1 in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals, in what was one of the most epic comebacks in recent years for the white team; The 34-year-old forward entered the field of play in the last 10 minutes of play and managed to score two goals, perhaps the most important of his career to seal the victory for the merengue club.
With this victory, Madrid got their ticket to the final where they will have to face another club from Germanyin this case Borussia Dortmund led by Jadon Sancho, Mat Hummels and Marco Reus.
A story of inspiration and motivation
José Luis Mato Sanmartín, better known as Joselu, was born in Stuttgart, Germany on March 27, 1990.but his beginnings as a soccer player were in the Real Madrid youth academy and his great progress made him become to be able to play for Real Madrid Castilla. But in 2012 he headed once again to Germany and was able to make his professional debut: Hoffenheim (2012-2013), Eintracht (2013-2014) and Hannover (2014-2015). He then had a stint in England at Stoke City (2015-2016) and Newcastle (2017 to 2019).
International consolidation
However, his consolidation was in Spanish football where he wore the colors of Deportivo de La Coruña (2016-2017), Deportivo Alavés (2019 to 2022) and his great season at Espanyol (2022-2023), in which he managed to score 17 goals, which did not prevent the relegation of the Catalan team, and he earned the call to play with the Spanish national team.
Return through the front door to Madrid
Joselu was one of the most important pieces in the final phase of the 2023 UEFA Nations League and scored the goal of Spain’s 2-1 victory over Italy in the semifinals. Then in the final they beat Croatia on penalties after a goalless draw in regular game time.
With everything mentioned above on his shoulders, Real Madrid knocked on his door again and hired him to be the replacement for Karim Benzema. And although returning to Madrid would be difficult for him to be a starter in a team full of great stars and where the offensive goes first through the Brazilians Rodrygo and Vinicius Júnior, in what was the most important game of his career as a Real Madrid player , Joselu appeared with a simply historic and epic double.
“I don’t consider myself the ‘Man of the Match’. All of us who play have been, the entire template. “We made it to the final and it is thanks to everyone’s efforts,” he said after the match.
Vinicius Júnior did not hesitate for a single second to thank him for his goals and the Spaniard He said that “not even in my most beautiful dream did I expect something like this. Vini is a great player, who will surely give us another Champions League for this great club. In the end I joined to be with the team at the right time.”
On the delay in confirming the second goal due to a possible offside, Joselu was quite clear and revealed everything he experienced at that precise moment: “it was terrible, I was praying. Especially in the second when the referee was determining whether it was a goal or not. “This is for all the fans.”
With those pair of goals scored he reached 16 in his first year at Real Madrid, where until now He played 46 games and distributed 3 assists. Now Joselu will seek to continue making history in the white entity and realize another of his great dreams, being able to win his first Champions League, which would be number 15 for Real Madrid.
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