He had been with Celta Vigo, Hoffenheim, Frankfurt, and Hannover. He had also played for Stoke City a club in Spain’s third division. He stopped at good but not great Newcastle and then Alavés. Last season, he played for Espanyol and failed in their fight to avoid relegation. Before Real Madrid called, Joselu was a 33-year-old drifter on his way to becoming unknown at this time last year.

We now see him as a Champions League star.

You probably hadn’t heard of him for most of his long career. He shocked Bayern Munich on Wednesday night, though, with two late goals in a Champions League quarterfinal played under the bright lights of the Santiago Bernabeu. He came through for the kings of Europe when they were down 1-0. He helped Real Madrid, a team with a lot of mystery and talent, win 2-1 and go to the Champions League final for the fourth time in a row.

His body was stretched out on the ground, his face in his hands, and he fell when the final whistle blew. People on his team piled on top of him.

Soon after, he looked around the palatial stadium, almost in shock, just like everyone who has been following his trip.

He went to Paris with a fake shirt less than two years ago to cheer on Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

It seems like he will always be the talk of the best soccer team ever on Wednesday night.

This is the latest part of a long story whose ending sometimes seems like it was meant to happen. Real Madrid always finds a way to win the Champions League, year after year, round after round. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid has won the first five European Cups. They’ve won 14 times, eight of those times between 1998 and 2022, when Joselu was there to cheer them on.

The figures change all the time, but they always come through in tough situations, no matter who they are or where they’re from, how hard their opponent hits the goal, or how long they’re behind.

They were behind after Alphonso Davies’s brace in the second half, which put Bayern ahead 1-0 and 3-2 overall.

But they were behind in the quarterfinals too. In order to get to the 2022 final, they had been behind in every round. They were behind in the 2018 semifinals, but a goal in the 98th minute helped them win. Both in 2017 and 2016, they were behind Bayern and Wolfsburg. They came back every time, and in the end, in late May or early June, they won La Orejona, or “The Cup With Big Ears.”

This time, they used their backup shooter from Galácticos, who they had signed on loan last summer for 500,000 euros.

Real Madrid has some of the best players in the world on its team. But Jude Bellingham (transfer fee: more than $110 million) and others were having a hard time on Wednesday. I thought Vinicius Jr. was great, but I wasn’t. Joselu, who could leave for less than $2 million if Real Madrid exercises an option, was waiting.

Since he joined his favorite club in July of last year, he had been there but wasn’t really there. It was time for Karim Benzema to go to Saudi Arabia. Kylian Mbappé wasn’t sure yet. Joselu was available, not too expensive, and… Was it worth a shot?

Real Madrid knew he could score goals. He had been to the club that day when he turned 18. He got 40 goals for Real’s B team. He played just twice for Real Madrid, once off the bench in the league and once against a small team in the Spanish Cup.

After that, he went to Hoffenheim and scored five goals in 25 games there. He moved around the Bundesliga in his home country of Germany, where he was born. In the English Premier League, he scored four goals in 27 games for Stoke. On loan at Deportivo La Coruña, he scored six goals in 24 games. In 52 games over two seasons at Newcastle, he scored seven goals.

He finally got to 10 at Alavés, which was around the time of his 30th birthday. He seemed to get better with age, but still, Real Madrid? He had never played in the Champions League before. He had never played for Spain before 2023. And he wasn’t even in the world picture. He played for the “national team” of Galicia, the autonomous region in the northwest of Spain where he grew up.

But Real Madrid saw more than just a fill-in player for Mbappé and a drifter. That’s what a typical super sub looks like a finisher who has been used more and more and can do what he did Wednesday night right off the bench.

Still, it may have known that the glory of a Champions League night turns the talents inside that famous white jersey into full force.

Maybe it didn’t matter which substitutes boss Carlo Ancelotti used as the clock ran out on Wednesday.