Joselu is normally up for a joke, so we started with one.
What felt tougher: living in Stoke or leaving Real Madrid, despite having the option to stay?
“Leaving Real Madrid, for sure!” Joselu says, laughing. “To be honest, I didn’t really live in Stoke, it was closer to Manchester (the cities are less than a 90-minute drive apart) — and my memories from that time are great.”
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No matter how fond his memories of life in England are, it might have come as a surprise to many football fans that a striker who scored 10 goals in 68 Premier League appearances combined for Stoke City and Newcastle United from 2015 to 2019 signed for Real Madrid last summer, from newly-relegated Espanyol at age 33, as the successor to Karim Benzema, whose 354 goals for the club is a record bettered only by Cristiano Ronaldo.
One year on, that same player is part of the Spain national team who have taken Euro 2024 by storm on the way to a semi-final tonight (Tuesday) against France, having scored 17 times for Madrid in 2023-24, helping them win La Liga and been crucial to the club’s record 15th European Cup/Champions League.
“If you had told this to that Stoke City player, I would have probably replied that you’re mad,” the 34-year-old says.
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“But throughout my career, I’ve always tried to pursue my dreams and never stopped believing that a chance like this could come. It arrived a bit late in my career, but I can tell you I enjoyed playing for Real Madrid and winning the trophies we won in the best way you can imagine.”
Last season felt like a dreamland for Joselu, a boyhood Madrid fan who ended the campaign knowing he would be a part of their folklore forever after the night he had against Bayern Munich on May 8.
With Madrid on the verge of getting knocked out of the Champions League semi-finals in their own stadium, Joselu was thrown on to perform a rescue mission with nine minutes of the 90 to go. There were just two minutes between his two goals which turned the tie around and sent Madrid to Wembley, where they beat Borussia Dortmund.
Super-sub Joselu wins it ⚽️#UCL pic.twitter.com/R1AnNKU9nj
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 9, 2024
“(Madrid manager Carlo) Ancelotti told me to stay in the box and try to get anything I could,” Joselu says of that 2-1 comeback win against Bayern. “I had the luck to find a couple of balls in there and score, and after that day everything changed — for the club but also for me.”
A man for the big occasion, Joselu was again in the picture for another dramatic late goal for the ages last Friday: Mikel Merino’s header from Dani Olmo’s cross in the final minute of extra time as Spain beat tournament hosts Germany — also the country of Joselu’s birth — in their Euros quarter-final.
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“I promise you, just five minutes before the goal, I spoke to Dani about that exact move,” Joselu says.
“When Olmo plays as a left-winger, we all know he likes to cut inside to his right foot and look for a ball into the box. I told him that I would always go to try and pin the further centre-back — to make him mark me individually. That way, there would be a free space just at his back for someone to attack.
“Then, it was all down to Olmo and his magnificent cross. It went just over (now former Madrid team-mate Antonio) Rudiger and I was being marked by (Waldemar) Anton, the other centre-back. This created the space for Mikel to crash into the box, as he does, and to head it home.”
🇪🇸 Merino in the final seconds to win the quarter-final… 🥵#EUROLastMinute | @Hublot pic.twitter.com/Yn4A1hi9Qz
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) July 5, 2024
The clarity with which Joselu recalls the whole sequence is impressive, and the joy in his voice as he does so is clear. It reflects what this group of players and coach Luis de La Fuente have achieved over the past month: there’s been at least one moment in which practically every member of the 26-man squad has felt relevant in this run to the semi-finals.
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“That was the biggest priority of the manager,” Joselu says. “I spoke with him many times about how we should contribute to the team. The first day I joined the squad, I told him that, for me, the most important thing was daily life and harmony with the team. Keeping it all healthy and competitive. He totally agreed with me.
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“I think he’s built a family here, which is basically what has brought us to this point. We’ve won the UEFA Nations League on the way, showed some outstanding performances, and the human group assembled here has been the difference-maker.”
During the Euros, Joselu has changed clubs.
He spent last season on loan at Madrid from Espanyol, after the Catalan side were relegated to the second tier.
The deal included a €1.5million (£1.3m; $1.6m at current exchange rates) purchase option for Madrid, and a few months ago it seemed like he would be staying in the Spanish capital. Instead, he has joined Qatari club Al Gharafa, although only after Madrid exercised their option, then sold him on immediately for the same price to respect his wishes.
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According to sources close to the negotiations, who preferred to speak anonymously to protect relationships, the three-year contract he signed comes with the biggest salary of his career. The transfer is not without controversy, as players who have moved to the Qatari league have faced criticism for going to a country whose human-rights record has attracted condemnation from Amnesty International and other groups.
“I had really tight margins defined by the option Real Madrid had on me, which was expiring, so I had to address this situation now,” says Joselu on the inconvenience of deciding his future while on Spain duty.
“The decision was so tough to make. Many people called me crazy for saying no to Real Madrid. In the end, it is a decision that I thought long and hard over and made with my family.”
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One of Joselu’s closest confidantes throughout the year has been his Madrid and Spain team-mate (and brother-in-law, with the pair having also played together for Madrid’s reserve team as youngsters over a decade ago) Dani Carvajal.
“We spoke a lot,” Joselu says. “I know Dani is sad because we were spending every day together with our families, and now we won’t. But he understands the reasons behind my choice. Real Madrid has a bright future ahead with plenty of young players who will deliver more titles and great memories, and we (he and his family) believed it was a convenient time for me to go.”
With right-back Carvajal suspended for the semi-final having been sent off in the final seconds of the Germany game, 38-year-old Jesus Navas is set to come into the team as Spain attempt to cope with France’s biggest attacking threat, and new Madrid signing, Kylian Mbappe.
“We all know how good Dani has been. For me, he should be a Ballon d’Or contender,” says Joselu, who is expected to be on the bench again in Munich tonight. “His performances at Euro 2024 have been outstanding, but we also have a deep enough squad to make sure any replacement can fill the bill perfectly.
“People say Mbappe has not been playing great (his only goal in the tournament was a penalty), but then he can come up in a game and change everything. We have to be aware of that.”
As anyone who’s watched them in this competition will know, Spain also have game-changing talent in their ranks — wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams especially. Joselu has played a key role in helping the two youngsters settle with the national team.
The match against Brazil in March illustrated this perfectly. Yamal was given some rough treatment that night at Madrid’s Bernabeu, and Joselu ran from the bench to defend the 16-year-old Barcelona forward as tensions spilt over.
“That game was a friendly, but it got heated and there were some actions that were not needed,” he says. “I quickly stood up to protect him. I would do that for any squad member we have here. We were close to the Euros (at that time) and a bad tackle could rule you out.
“On Lamine, I was so impressed during his first call-up. How he dares to do everything, the willingness to learn and work, his attitude is so good. He is of course so young and promising, and it is our duty to take care of him.
“The veterans need to show younger players which path is the right one to follow. Those team call-ups in major tournaments are a good experience for them to discover what’s coming in the next 15 years of their careers. It also involves managing them in training sessions, because we don’t want to be pushing too much now and putting his future at risk.”
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When asked about Williams, Joselu isn’t short of praise either and does not hesitate to put the 21-year-old among the best in business in his position.
“When we met him in La Liga last season we already realised he is an absolute rocket of a player,” he says. “In every game against Athletic Bilbao, we analysed him individually, he is so dangerous with the one-on-ones and has now added goalscoring and chance-creating to his game. Nico can leave any full-back in the world with nightmares.”
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Willians and Yamal are the faces of the new Spain, who are for some the team to beat at Euro 2024, and for most neutrals are its most enjoyable side to watch. They will now take on a pragmatic France team who have scored only three times in their five games (and not once from open play; the three being Mbappe’s penalty and two own goals), while conceding just once.
“Everyone can have their opinions. I understand France might not be playing as some people were expecting,” Joselu says. “But the only thing I know is that they are in the semi-finals of the Euros. That’s all that matters to me. To get there, you must have done something good. When you are just one step away from playing in a final, I don’t think what has happened before has that much of an impact.
“It will be tough, but don’t doubt it: we will be ready.”
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(Top photo: Matt McNulty – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
