Featured Footballer: Álvaro Morata

Álvaro Morata is a Spanish striker playing for Atlético Madrid on loan from Chelsea. 

Atletico’s striker was born on October 23, 1992, in Madrid, Spain by his father, Alfonso Morata, and his mother Susana Morata. Being the last born and the only son of his parents, Morata grew up surrounded by loved ones who always took care of him.

He was always in the center of attention and provided by a constant, intensive care. In early ages, he showed his talent and soon after that everyone realized that football had to be his profession.

Being born in the Capital of Spain has its advantages, especially for those who are talented for football. He supported both teams from Madrid, Atlético, and Real. At the age of 3, he started his football journey with Real Madrid football foundation academy. While being there, he met many famous footballers, Real Madrid’s stars.

He learned how to write and count, but he was not that interested in books. He would often forget about them, but he would never forget about the ball. The fun fact is that mum is a Real Madrid fun, and she never wanted him to leave RM. 

Switching sides

At the age of 13, he went to Atlético Madrid, spent 2 years there, and after that, he moved back to Real Madrid C. From 2010 to 2013, he played for Real Madrid B and scored 45 goals in 83 appearances.  From 2010 to 2014, in 37 appearances for Real Madrid, he scored 10 goals. Morata scored his first competitive goal with Real’s first team on 11 November 2012, in an away win against Levante. In March 2013, Morata played the full 90 minutes of El Clásico, when Real defeated Barcelona in a home win. In that match, he assisted Benzema who scored an opener goal. On March 16, he scored his first goal in the UEFA Championship League.

The best of Morata

On 14 July 2014, Morata signed a five-year deal with Juventus for a fee of 20 million euros. While spending 2 years in Juventus. In Juventus, Morata had some memorable matches playing for Bianconeri. He scored 15 goals in 63 appearances. In June 2016, he moved back to Real Madrid that exercised their buy-back clause to re-sign Morata from Juventus for €30 million. Even being the backup for Benzema, he scored 15 league goals in 2016/2017, the winning season for Real Madrid. In July 2017, Morata’s transfer to Chelsea was announced. The reported fee was about £60 million, which was a club-record fee. While playing for Chelsea, he scored 16 goals in 47 appearances.

The return

He is currently playing for Atlético Madrid; he is on an 18 months loan deal. Until now, he scored 10 goals while being on a loan and playing in Atlético. The fun fact is that Morata is the only player who scored for both, Real and Atlético Madrid in Championship league.

 Morata has played for the senior Spanish national team since 2014. On May 2018, he was out of Spain’s World Cup finals squad, because of a poor club season.

When talking about Morata’s characteristics, it is important to say that he is very strong at headed attempts and aerial duals. He contributes to defense strongly, too. He is also good at dribbling and strong at finishing. He is not that good at passing, and he is usually not that aware of offside positions. With Morata’s style of play, it’s safe to say that he gets fouled (and takes penalties) often and commits fouls often too.

Morata is well-known as a very emotional and vulnerable person, on and off the field. Everything that other players or referees say touches him. Because of his sensitivity, he shaved his hair as a kind of support for sick children. Because kids couldn’t have his haircut, he gave himself theirs.