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A few weeks back, former Real Madrid forward hit the headlines by scoring two goals against his former employers in the Champions League. That man was the now Juventus forward – Alvaro Morata.
In 2014, Juventus seized Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid for a transfer fee of €20 million. Since, then Morata has gone on to score some important goals for the Turin club justifying the investment on still a relative infant in football.
It’s worth noticing that Morata played 10 minutes in the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid last year. Since then he has come a long way with the Italian giants and will be in contention to start at the Berlin final against Barcelona.
Morata has just two complete seasons in top tier league football – first for Real Madrid 2013-14 and the next being the current one. Although he made his first-team debut in 2010, Morata was occasionally called on to replace an injured striker until 2013 - when he started playing regularly for Real Madrid.
However, If you’re putting money on a goalscorer at the Champions League Final go with Alvaro Morata.
Morata’s playing style
Morata doesn’t possess an extraordinary goal scoring record, but he does have a pedigree of scoring important goals. Watching him play over the two legs against Real Madrid you could watch him getting into spaces and running into the box which is the mark of a good striker.
That is one of the most notable characteristics of his game – a typical number 9 mindset. It was a major failure on the part of a star-studded Real Madrid defense to not have noticed Morata’s movements but it was Morata who perfectly exploited that flaw.
Morata is a menace for opposition defences in the air. Such a trait is a huge advantage to any goalkeeper - players who can win air battles when they take goalkicks. That is exactly what Olivier Giroud and Edin Dzeko have offered Arsenal and Manchester City over the years.
Finishing is an art, which he seems to have mastered. He knows where the net is and can use both his right and left foot to stick the ball in the back of the net.
One would have heard people making comparisons between the Spanish legend Ferndando Morientes and Morata. At times, he also reminds you of players like Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Raul Gonzalez. Being only 22, Morata has everything to become a colossal name in the Spanish football folklore and has the potential to perhaps surpass David Villa as the top goalscorer for Spain someday.
Alvaro Morata is not in the habit of taking unnecessary shots and only shoots when he feels he has a good chance to score. Statistically, this season Alvaro Morata has 1.7 shots on goal per minute which is low in comparison to other strikers in the league.
Morata is also excellent in the traditional counter-attacking system. He is able to make the right rund and get into the right spaces often without the opposition defenders taking note of him.
Leaving Real Madrid
Leaving Madrid proved to be a good decision for Morata as he couldn’t manage to play regularly sitting behind Karim Benzema in the hierarchy.
Right from the beginning of last season, there were indicators that Morata was ready for top flight football. In his early days at Real Madrid under Mourinho he was rated as one of the best young talents in Europe and was rewarded with a pre-season trip with likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel di Maria and Karim Benzema.
But immediately after the pre-season when asked about Morata, Mourinho kept on stressing that Morata still was not prepared for the first team.
The management at Real Madrid has to be blamed for the early departure of Alvaro Morata; which prefers spending millions on buying players rather than developing them. It has been the outlook at Santiago Bernabeu over the years unlike its national rival Barcelona.
It was clear that he had to leave his childhood club, for another football family who could parent him better – it turned out to be Juventus.
What Barcelona need to do against him
The best measure to stop an in-form forward is to stem the distribution from midfield. Once the defence is able to curb the deliveries into the box it isolates a forward and logically makes him ineffective.
Barcelona already have some of the best tacklers in world football. Sergio Busquets will have a major role in stopping Alvaro Morata. If he’ s on song, he could snatch the man of the match award in Berlin.
Morata is a very cool character when it comes to finishing; he usually takes his time and displays the calmness of a hermit in the box before dispatching the shot. He has a tendency to hit moving balls with his left foot when it rolls past his body.
Javier Mascherano will have an added job to stop that movement. If Barcelona can do that, they indeed can frustrate Alvaro Morata. Going into such a game without a plan for him can be incredibly dangerous.
