Former Newcastle United striker Joselu was Real Madrid’s Champions League hero on Wednesday night.
Real Madrid and Bayern Munich battled it out for the honour of facing Borussia Dortmund in the final, who beat Newcastle United twice earlier in the competition.
Toon fans watched on Tuesday as two of their group stage opponents went head-to-head, and it was the Bundesliga giants who came out on top. That delighted pretty much every Newcastle United supporter after what happened in Paris.
But Wednesday was all about nostalgia, as a Newcastle United flop proved to be the difference maker for the biggest club in the world.
Joselu was Real Madrid’s hero in Champions League semi final
It looked like Carlo Ancelotti’s side were going to be knocked out, but cometh the hour cometh the man. Joselu was brought on in the 81st minute, and his introduction proved to be decisive.
The Spaniard reacted quickest to a Manuel Neuer mistake, grabbing a tap in to make it 1-1 in the 88th minute.
Just three minutes later, he got his and Real Madrid’s second, as he got himself another poacher’s goal following a fantastic cross by Antonio Rudiger. The strike had initially been ruled out for offside, but a VAR check proved that Joselu was actually onside.
The 34-year-old scored twice to send Real Madrid to the final, where they will face Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on June 1st.
Hilarious Joselu tweet from his Newcastle United career recirculates
It was an incredible night for Joselu, who never looked capable of such things at Newcastle United.
He joined the Magpies in 2017 for £5million, with Rafa Benitez signing the forward from Stoke City. Joselu spent two seasons at St James’ Park, making 52 appearances in all competitions and scoring seven goals.
While you could not fault his endeavour, he was never a prolific goalscorer. There was such a lack of confidence in front of goal, and an old tweet from journalist Mark Douglas summed up the striker’s time on Tyneside.
During a 1-0 defeat to Brighton on October 18th 2017, Douglas tweeted: “Joselu has just hit the corner flag with a shot from 20 yards.”
That just sums him up as a Newcastle United player. It is probably on a par with Joelinton hitting a shot into his own face.
Joelinton has had a transformation since then, and is a key player for Newcastle United. As for Joselu, he has hit unimaginable heights ever since waving goodbye to the Magpies.
Joselu has been on fire since leaving Newcastle
Newcastle called time on Joselu’s Toon career in 2019, selling him to Alaves for around £2.5million – half of what they had paid in 2017.
Since that moment, Joselu, who has since admitted that he could have stayed at Newcastle, has been a different player. He spent three seasons in La Liga with Alaves, hitting double figures in each of them. That earned him a move to Espanyol in 2022, where he continued to regularly find the net with 17 goals in all competitions.
That form then led to him signing for Real Madrid on loan, with an option to buy at the end of it. Given what he has achieved, you have to imagine they will sign him!
He has scored 16 goals for Los Blancos this season, and his two most important came in a Champions League semi final. It would be amazing if he could go one better and do it in the final!
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