Many Real Madrid fans don’t even believe Joselu can play in a Champions League semi-final. But then he became Real Madrid’s dream hero.

The Spanish striker was only brought onto the field in the 81st minute to replace Rodrygo. He didn’t even get to play a minute in the semi-final first leg. And in a situation where there was nothing left to lose, coach Ancelotti let this 34-year-old player enter the field to look for a chance to go upstream

Joselu celebrates after scoring

In the early morning of May 9 (Vietnam time), Real Madrid came back to defeat Bayern Munich with a double goal at the end of the match from Joselu .

The Spanish striker was only brought onto the field in the 81st minute to replace Rodrygo. He didn’t even get to play a minute in the semi-final first leg. And in a situation where there was nothing left to lose, coach Ancelotti let this 34-year-old player enter the field to look for a chance to go upstream.

Last summer, Real Madrid accepted to let Benzema leave , after 14 years of glorious dedication. It was thought that president Florentino Perez would bring in a superstar to replace the French striker.

But no, Real Madrid decided to wait for Mbappe for another year, and did not look for another superstar. Instead, they brought in Joselu as a short-term solution. The Spanish striker just scored 17 goals for Espanyol in the 2022-2023 season, but was 33 years old at that time.

Real Madrid borrowed him for a fee of only 500,000 euros, with a buyout clause for only 1.5 million euros.

Joselu became the only striker at Real Madrid. Especially when the Spanish team even let Mariano Diaz leave this summer.

But in a team full of stars like Real Madrid, it is difficult for Joselu to break into the main team. He was allowed to play quite often at the beginning of the season, when the races were not yet intense.

In his first 7 matches for Real Madrid, Joselu scored 5 goals, an impressive achievement for an old striker of average quality.

But from November onwards, coach Ancelotti only used Joselu “drip”. He only played 150 minutes in the next 5 matches and did not score any goals.

Starting around the end of October, Real Madrid shaped their starting frame with Vinicius – Rodrygo playing in the attαck. Bellingham plays high in a 4-man midfield. Joselu couldn’t get a seat because of his slowness.

No one expected Joselu to shine brightly in the Champions League right at an important moment

The Spanish striker still fires regularly when given the opportunity, but mainly only in less important matches in La Liga or the King’s Cup.

As of this morning’s match, Joselu had 15 goals in 44 appearances for Real Madrid. He only started 16 of those matches.

Before being a hero in the Champions League, Joselu scored against Cadiz, an innocuous match with Real last weekend to end a series of 9 unsuccessful matches.

The news that Mbappe will soon go to Real Madrid in the summer makes fans believe that the team’s leadership will soon return Joselu to Espanyol after the season ends. But in just 3 minutes, he has now become a new hero at the Bernabeu.

Real Madrid is so great that they easily let Benzema leave once he no longer wanted to stay. They made Mbappe wait another year to sign a free contract.

And during that time, Real Madrid brought in an old, unknown striker, to turn him into “Ronaldo”, “Benzema” in the Champions League.