'It was a Stoke City ball'

On the training pitches of Clayton Wood some nine years ago, there would be the sight of a Spanish striker putting in extra sessions of finishing after other Stoke City players had gone in for lunch. Joselu, their £5.75 million signing from Hannover 96, could not get in the team but as one team-mate says “he was happy to be a footballer”.

There was nothing to suggest in that 2015/16 season that Joselu would become an unlikely hero for Real Madrid, scoring the two goals this week to send them into the Champions League final when it looked like Bayern Munich had sent them crashing out.

But according to Peter Odemwingie, his team-mate at the Bet365 Stadium, it was his hard work during this time that paved the way for a football miracle. Joselu went to Deportivo La Coruna, Newcastle, Alavés and Espanyol before getting loaned to Real Madrid, where he was seen as a stop-gap forward until Kylian Mbappe became a free agent. When Real were last in the Champions League final, two years ago, he was there as a fan with his father.

“He wasn’t particularly slow or rapid but had a good touch and a good finish and one thing that caught my eye was that he was keen, he was happy to be a footballer,” Odemwingie told Telegraph Sport. “He was very athletic, tall with a very good build for a forward.

“He wasn’t playing regularly but among those who weren’t in the team, he wasn’t anxious or angry, he was a composed person. He was not toxic, he was good to have around even though he wasn’t as active as he wanted to be. I remember during this time he was working on his finishing a lot.

“He wasn’t well spoken in English but it wasn’t zero communication. He had other Spanish players in the squad and seemed fine. Those players made a difference for him to help him settle. He was a cool guy.”

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