Joselu’s return to Stuttgart, the city where he was born

is Silledaa municipality of Pontevedra very close to Santiago de Compostela, where Joselu Mato He kicked the ball for the first time, but he was born Stuttgartthe German city will certainly host this Friday (6:00 pm) the quarterfinal match of Euro 2024 in between Germany and Spain

Is the son of ‘Virucha’, nickname of Elvira Mato, who went abroad Galicia in the German lands with his partner, looking for better working and living conditions. Now, the former player ofReal Madrid and new footballer Al Gharafa Qatari, returns for a new game in an unforgettable year for the forward.

On March 27, 1990, 34 years ago, he was born in Stuttgart José Luis Sanmartín Mato. Joselu Mato since at the age of four, after the separation of his parents, he changed Germany with his mother and sister Irene through Spain to live out his childhood.

“Friday will be a special game for me,” Joselu admitted two days after returning to play in Stuttgart, the city of his birth and where, as fate would have it, he scored his first goal in German football. A 0-3 away win for Hoffenheim on September 29, 2012.

“My mother went to that field when she watched football matches. Stuttgart. They lived for 22 years in a city and a country where they treated us very well. I left early, but I’ve talked about it with my mom and my sister and they have a lot of memories. It will be special, especially for them,” he said.

On his return to Spain, he met Elvira Ramon Vazquez whom Joselu considers his father. He was in charge of bringing him to every training session in Vigo when he entered the quarry and the forward is eternally grateful after he suddenly lost 2017 due to a heart attack.

Joselu’s first international goals were dedicated to him. In a record-breaking magical night at the stadium The Rose Garden, in Zaragoza, in March 2023, when Luis de la Fuente gave him an alternative in the 81st minute and signed the most powerful debut of a Spanish national team player with a double in less time, between minutes 84 and 85. Released the shin guard with his father’s image on it and kissed it while looking up at the sky.

“I came back to Spain very young and the only thing that my mother and my sister always convey to me is respect for the people and order. That’s how I was raised since I was a child. Then I experienced myself that I was playing here Germany and I am very grateful because they treated me well,” acknowledges Joselu, who knows German football well after playing for three German teams: Hoffenheim, Eintacht Frankfurt and Hannover 96.

“Today we represent Spain and we want to win, no matter what the opponent. It was a chance that it was against Germany and also in Stuttgart, where it was my first goal in the Bundesliga (he did this as a Hoffenheim player on September 26, 2012). The only thing I’m thinking about is to do it again,” he said, with a desire to have De la Fuente’s minutes again in the quarterfinals and score his first goal in the final stage of a major international tournament.