At the World Cup in Qatar, in those days when the heat threatened to burst the thermometers, it was striking how a soccer player from Spain, generally oblivious to what surrounded them, was worried: he did not want the embarrassment to affect his employees. federation.
Years ago, in the Champions League of the 2015-2016 campaign, the same footballer was preparing to take a corner kick, during a Sevilla-Juventus match. Out of the blue he ran into a familiar face: he was a photographer. Before shooting, he approached to shake her hand.
Close to people he knows, also to strangers. In 2014, he appeared shaved at the Santiago Bernabéu. “You have to change from time to time,” he justified to the press. However, his look had a hidden message: it was a nod to children with cancer admitted to the Niño Jesús Hospital in Madrid.
The footballer is Álvaro Morata. And it doesn’t change. Since he played for Castilla until he took the armband of the Spanish team, the forward lights up a peripheral gaze. He doesn’t have it alone in the field. “People don’t really know me as a person. He doesn’t know what I’m like in a locker room. I have been lucky to learn from Koke, Sergio Ramos, Casillas, Chiellini, Bonucci, Buffon… Great players and captains. It is a question of the role that you have at each moment and prioritizing that all the people in the concentration are well, that there are no problems,” he explained in an interview on Cadena Ser.
One of the first conflicts he encountered as captain of La Roja was with Gavi. The young Barcelona youth player did not want to sign autographs for some fans during the Spain camp, on the eve of the duel against Norway in March 2023. The news was leaked by a teammate from La Roja. The noise grew in the Red expedition, until Morata had a talk with Luis de la Fuente: “He could have made a mistake. But he is one of us,” the captain defended Gavi. “There are many things to talk about and manage. Sometimes it can be a mess. But that’s what being a captain means.”
In any case, something curious happens with Morata. While it is rare to find detractors of the 9 in Las Rozas — “you will not find anyone in the world of football who speaks badly of Álvaro,” emphasizes a federation employee —, a part of the fans has the captain crossed. And that, although he hides it, hurts him. The height of the fans’ anger was manifested in the friendly against Brazil at the Bernabéu. “My children don’t understand why there are people who are so angry at their father,” he revealed. Something similar had happened to Messi in his country: “Why do they kill you in Argentina, daddy?”
Messi held on, Morata, for now, too. And as if he had listened to Woody Allen — “I don’t know the key to success, but I know that the key to failure is trying to please everyone,” says the filmmaker — the Atlético de Madrid forward holds on. “This year it has happened to me that I have had so much desire to please that in the end it is not good. Every time I put on the Atleti or national team shirt, I dream of winning something important. There are times when the ball goes in or it doesn’t go in, but what I want is for them all to go in,” reflects Morata.
From Madrid (31 goals in 95 games) to Juventus (59 in 185), from Chelsea (24 in 72) to Atlético (58 in 154), Morata has always maintained a similar relationship with the nets, 0.33 on average in Madrid and Chelsea, by 0.32 for Juve and 0.38 for Atlético. There are few places, however, where Morata inflates his confidence like when he wears the Spain shirt: 35 goals in 73 games (0.47 per duel). “I think I play better with the national team when we don’t play in Spain, honestly. “It’s not to complain,” Morata confesses. It happens, however, that he has scored 49% of the goals with La Roja in Spain. None, in any case, in Madrid.
In the locker room they surrender to their captain. Few better to describe Morata than Rodri, another of the captains. “He is one of the most experienced players, one of our references. He knows the quality he has as a person and as a player. Nobody doubts him here,” says the Manchester City midfielder. And, when it comes to playing in the Euro Cup, Morata is questioned less. “No one doubts that he is one of the top scorers we have in our country,” concludes Rodri. The 9 is the fourth best scorer in the history of the Spanish team, with 35 goals, three behind Fernando Torres (38), nine behind Raúl (44) and 24 behind the leader of the list, David Villa (59).
But in the Euro Cup, no Spaniard has a better scoring average than Morata: 0.6. The same average as Lukaku and Rooney, close to Griezmann (0.64) and with Cristiano Ronaldo in the rearview mirror (0.56). “He is our center forward. I defend him tooth and nail. He is a player who is not recognized for everything he has done. It seems that we deny those at home the value they have. His entire professional career places him in the value of a great world figure. For me he is indisputable,” closes De la Fuente.
Nobody doubts Morata in Spain, it is supported by his leadership and his goals. Nothing more and nothing less. He, however, resists his detractors and makes amends for his last dance: “I don’t know if it will be my last big tournament with Spain.”
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