Al-Gharafa SC forward Joselu has jokingly said his time at Stoke City helped him through Spain’s victory over Switzerland last night, as reported by El Pais
The players were subject to horrendous torrential rain during Spain’s 4-1 victory, but the conditions didn’t deter Joselu, despite his move to the heat of Qatar this summer.
The 34-year-old was one of his side’s standout players during the Nations League clash and the forward opened the scoring after just four minutes.
Asked about his performance and the conditions in Geneva, the media compared it to his time playing in Germany, Joselu brushed that aside and said: “Or like Stoke, right?”
That saw El Pais have to explain the whole cold and rainy night at Stoke phenomenon to a Spanish audience: ‘It also became, half seriously, half jokingly, a kind of competitive stress test years ago, when two English commentators discussed the merits of Cristiano and Messi to win the Ballon d’Or: “Okay, but can they do that on a cold and rainy night in Stoke?” His stadium, the Britannia, 60 kilometres south of Manchester, has become the canonical place where rain pours down and crosses into the area are contested with roughness.’
Joselu signed for Stoke City in 2015, but had just one season with the club, scoring four goals in 27 games. He was loaned out to Deportivo de La Coruña during his second season with the English club, before he moved back to Spain on a permanent basis with Alaves.
Last season the veteran forward went down in Real Madrid folklore after his exploits in the Champions League, helping the Spanish giants to their 15th title with some important goals.
His performances in the past couple of seasons earned him a call up to the Spain national team and he was part of their Euro 2024 winning squad.
