While Alvaro Morata became something of a laughing stock during his time in the English Premier League with Chelsea, it’s unfair to let that (albeit torrid) stint at Stamford Bridge define his career.
The 30-year-old has won league titles with Juventus and Real Madrid in Italy and Spain respectively, and has enjoyed a good international career thus far for country — scoring 29 times 59 appearances for La Roja.
His performances at major tournaments are particularly impressive, with six goals in 10 European Championships appearances. There was still a sense that, despite all this, he still had a point to prove at this year’s World Cup in Qatar. Morata was left out of Spain’s squad for the Russia-held tournament four years ago due to his difficult time at Chelsea, which no doubt would have been a bitter pill to swallow for the forward.
However, he’s earned his stripes back for Spain under Luis Enrique. In the last few years the former Barcelona man has called upon him as the only real out-and-out striker in Spain 26-man squad for the Middle East — and Morata is delivering the goods for his side, with two goals in two games at the time of writing as Spain become more favoured to win the tournament in the World Cup bets.
The 30-year-old wasn’t included in the starting XIs for the games against Costa Rica and Germany, as Enrique opted for the traditional Spanish false nine with Marco Asensio leading the line alongside Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres. But Morata got off the bench in both of those fixtures and took his opportunities with both hands, assisting the promising Gavi for Spain’s fifth goal before finding the back of the net himself for his side’s record seventh.
It would be hard to single out Morata in that game though, as so many Spanish players performed out of their skin — perhaps most notably Torres, and Pedri who didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet but did control the pace and tempo of the game. Against Germany, however, he was Spain’s hero from the subs bench.
Morata replaced Torres around 10 minutes into the second half and fired Spain into the lead against their European counterparts within eight minutes of being on the pitch — breaking away from his marker to get on the end of Jordi Alba’s low cross before beating Manuel Neuer at his near post with a lovely flick. The game did ultimately finish 1-1 with the little-known Niclas Fullkrug levelling the scores for Germany with a net-bursting shot late on.
But that goal from Morata was still key for Spain as it kept them in the driving seat to top the group and gain the easier path through the knockout stages of the tournament. He might not fit Spain’s initial style of play, but he is a real danger from the bench in the second half of games — as he has proved already — and if La Roja are to go far in Qatar then they will need Morata to keep delivering.