Joselu at the double to book Wembley – Absolutely stunning!


 
 
 
 
 
 

It is Joselu who finds his name up in lights, again.

A crazy Champions League night seeing Real Madrid exiting the competition in front of their own fans.

Only for the former Newcastle United striker to provide a stunning conclusion to the match from the bench.

Bayern Munich looked to be making it an all Bundesliga Champions League final, repeating what had happened 24 hours in Paris, when Borussia Dortmund did such a professional job on PSG to reach Wembley.

On Wednesday night, with the score 2-2 from the first leg in Munich, Real Madrid struggled to create many clear chances whilst Bayern Munich always looked a threat on the break.

When Davies fired home a stunning goal on 68 minutes, it looked like it was game over as the clock ticked down.

Then very much a tale of two substitutions that will be talked about.

One-time Newcastle United forward Joselu brought on in the 81st minute.

One-time Tottenham forward Harry Kane taken off in the 85th minute.

Only seven minutes after taking to the pitch, Joselu levelled things up.

Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had been excellent but then fumbled Vinicius Jr’s shot, with the on-loan striker pouncing with two minutes to go.

Fair to say that Thomas Tuchel and Bayern Munich were stunned, the former Chelsea manager seeing his fresh legs replacing Harry Kane to see the win out, going badly wrong. Bayern Munich now looking at playing extra time and possible taking penalties without their star striker.

However, Bayern Munich had no need to worry about extra time…

Only three minutes later, the first minute of added time, Rudiger crosses and Joselu strikes again!

The goal was initially ruled offside, only for VAR to come to Real Madrid’s rescue, showing that Joselu was onside.

Real Madrid will now face Newcastle United’s conquerors Borussia Dortmund on Saturday 1 June at Wembley in the Champions League final.

Last night had even more later controversy, when in the 13th minute of injury time Bayern’s de Ligt thought he had taken the game to extra time. However, rather than letting play continue as is the norm these days, the assistant referee had flagged for an offside earlier in the move, with some of Real Madrid’s defenders stopping when they saw this. TV replays suggesting that there had been no offside in the build up and if the flag hadn’t been (probably) mistakenly raised, then the goal would have stood.

However, this was the night when Joselu shone brightest, coming off the bench and within ten minutes scoring twice to take Real Madrid into the Champions League final.

With nine goals in 13 league starts and 19 sub appearances, Joselu has already helped Real Madrid win La Liga this season.

The 34 year old now has 17 goals in all competitions and having played 1,911 minutes so far this season, is averaging a goal every 112 minutes.

However, his Champions League stats are the most stunning amongst the overall picture, in 268 minutes of Champions League football this season, Joselu now has five goals, at an average of one every 54 minutes!

I will be wanting Borussia Dortmund to win on 1 June at Wembley but it wouldn’t surprise me to see Joselu coming off the bench and getting a last minute winner, sometimes things are just meant to happen.