Except that this Wednesday evening, he put his name next to that of the greatest of Real Madrid. “My dreams are not as beautiful as what I experienced tonightlaunched Joselu after the meeting. Two years ago I saw what it felt like to be a Real Madrid fan (Editor's note: with the crazy scenarios against Chelsea and City then the final won). And now I’m experiencing it up close.”
My dreams are not as beautiful as what I experienced tonight.
Two years ago, Dani Carvajal's brother-in-law was at Alavès, the tenth club of his career. He was returning from several long years spent between England (Newcastle, Stoke City) and Germany (Hoffenheim, Frankfurt, Hanover), the country where he was born in 1990 and where he spent the first four years of his life before returning home and discovering football. Until achieving his dream of playing for Real Madrid for the first time, at 19 years old. Except that his chance in the first team will not come. He therefore followed an alternative path, via second-rate clubs, until his transfer last summer to finally write Real history.
In a meeting as intense as it was close and indecisive, the Merengues were heading straight for the exit at the gates of the final after the individual exploit of Alphonso Davies (68th: 0-1)… a player cited by Real for the next transfer window. And then Carlo Ancelotti decided to launch Joselu in the 82nd minute to end the match with a real striker capable of both serving as a pivot but above all a surface fox to finish off crosses.
Madrid-style…
So, yes: the 34-year-old veteran did not score the two best goals of his career. But probably the most important, by being where it was needed: just in front of Neuer to take advantage of the released ball (88th), and on reception of Rüdiger's cross on the following action (90th). “In the last minutes, we brought back the feeling that it was possible to achieve itconfided the Madrid hero. In Madrid, when you equalize, they tell you to take the ball and bring it to the center because you have to win. And we knew that with the 1-1 we were going to have a chance because the fans were pushing us.”
This mentality is symbolic of this Real Madrid version of Carlo Ancelotti who never gives up until the last second (even if we will talk a lot about the very questionable offside whistled on De Ligt's goal a few moments later). We saw it throughout the season and we saw it during previous campaigns. “What happened many times happened againsmiled the Italian coach, moved. It is difficult to explain. Impossible to explain. That’s the magic of this club in this competition, in this stadium and with these supporters.”
And to think that this Joselu, on loan from Espanyol Barcelona, is likely to return to his club at the end of the season given the arrival of the young Brazilian Endrick and especially the probable transfer of Kylian Mbappé. “What happens in the future will be discussed in due course. I want to live the next few weeks 100% until the final and then we’ll talk.”
Real Madrid : Lunin, Carvajal, Rudiger, Nacho, Mendy, Tchouaméni (70th Camavinga), Kroos (70th Modric), Valverde (81st Joselu), Bellingham, Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo (81st Diaz).
Bayern Munich: Neuer, De Ligt, Dier, Mazraoui, Kimmich, Laimer, Pavlovic, Gnabry (27th Davies), Musiala, Sané (76th Min-jae), Kane.
Referee: Mr. Marciniak (Pol). :
The goals : 68th Davies (0-1), 88th Joselu (1-1), 90th Joselu (2-1).
The best: Joselu (8/10)
Who else ? Yes, Vinicius Jr. had a monstrous match. Yes, Toni Kroos single-handedly kept Madrid's construction going for 70 minutes in addition to saving a huge opportunity at the start of the match. Yes, Lunin made several valuable saves. But the hero is Joselu. Coming up in the 81st minute, he was where he needed to be to score the ball twice in the space of two minutes. Amazing.
The flop: Manuel Neuer (6/10)
From hero to zero. History will not remember his decisive saves and saves made throughout this semi-final return. She will only remember this poorly captured ball after Vinicius Jr.'s strike which allowed Joselu to equalize and give the Madrilenians the necessary hope. We know the rest with this second goal conceded two minutes later.
