His career in the national team has had many ups and downs, with the inevitable criticism that any striker in the team always receives. Spanish selection, whatever the results. And he hasn’t had it easy: he has been the forward who consolidated himself in the position after the retirement of the best this team has ever had.David Villa– and in a time of lukewarm results that followed the golden age of two Euro Cups and a World Cup. But Álvaro Morata has been persistent, as proven by the 10 years that he has been in the Spanish team, and as demonstrated by numbers that are beginning to rub shoulders with those of the greatest.
Those numbers don’t lie: Morata is the top scorer of the history of the Spanish team in the final stages of the Euro Cups. He already has seven goals in three European championships, 2016, 2020 and the current one. In this way, he ties with Shearer and Griezmann as the third top scorer of the tournament, only surpassed by Platinum (9) and Cristiano Ronaldo (14).
In absolute terms, Morata has 35 goals and is placed fourth on the list of La Roja’s top scorers, tied with David Silva. Only the legends remain ahead: Fernando Torres (38 goals), Raul Gonzalez (44 goals) and David Villa (59 goals).
Precisely, his arrival to the national team is linked to the departure of Villa and Fernando Torres. With the two main forwards hanging up their boots after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Vicente del Bosque tried several alternatives that did not work, such as Diego Costa. In that search, Álvaro Morata arrived at the call, and he has been there ever since. He scored his first goal in March 2015, against Ukraine.
This Saturday, his goal against Croatia It came at a time when Spain was struggling. He opened the can by taking advantage of a pass from Fabian Ruiz and do what forwards have to do: control, position themselves and shoot. His game, however, had a bittersweet ending: in the 66th minute he was substituted after he himself asked for a change, after receiving a blow and with an alleged injury. But after the meeting, he downplayed the problem in an interview with TVE: “A hitbut when you have a strong blow I noticed that my leg was feeling a bit heavy and the best thing was to get out.”
With the goal, the footballer responds to the boos that he received in recent matches in the Santiago Bernabeu and in La Cartuja. For this reason, this week she complained on the program El Larguero: “For me The easiest thing is not to be playing in Spain, for my life, for what I have to live when I go out into the streets in our country. For me the easiest thing is to go play outside. Many times my children, who are five years old, do not understand why there are people who are so angry at their father. The easy thing last summer It would have been to leave Atlético. I had better offers financially, great teams, but I have the hope of winning with Atlético, when I see how people react to our games and victories, that part weighs a lot,” he said.
He also speculated that this may be his last big tournament with Spain. “If it can be. There is a moment when you have to think if it is worth matching Raúl or Torres, or being well and happy. “I play better with the national team when it is not in Spain.” Of course, he showed it in this first match for the team in Euro 2024.
