A talk, a purpose and a lot of work: the keys to the change of top scorer Morata
There was a time when Álvaro Morata (Madrid, 1982) did not score a goal against the rainbow. He went more than 100 days without seeing a door in 2016. In addition, many memes of the forward circulated, and still do, with some of his mistakes.. And those moments and those criticisms, especially during his time at Chelsea, affected his head.
Morata seemed like a troubled man, as if he had Atlas syndrome, that Titan who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.. However, thanks to psychological help and the support of his family, he managed to overcome what he described as “almost depression.”. Today, however, their situation is different.
On Sunday, his name was one of the most chanted in the Metropolitano. The two goals against his eternal rival, his former club Real Madrid, catapulted him towards the best start of his career: Eight goals in eight games, five with Atlético de Madrid (all in the league, which is equal to him in the Pichichi with Bellingham and Lewandowski) and three with the national team (hat trick against Georgia) in the qualifier for the 2024 European Championship in Germany.
The Madrid striker had never started with an average of one goal per game, in fact, his career average is 0.4 goals. He came close in 2020/21, when he played for Juventus Turin, with six goals in seven games and finished the season with 25 goals, the best mark in his sporting history.
Diego Simeone praised his game against Madrid and slipped a small detail from a conversation he had with the forward. “We know that he has his weapons to reach the numbers that he seeks and that we need,” said the Argentine coach in the press conference after Sunday's derby that Atético won 3-1.. Cholo demanded 18 goals for this season and Morata is projected to achieve it.
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He could not have done it, at least with the team in which he triumphs today. His name was on the exit ramp all summer and the forward managed “a couple of offers” to leave, according to Atlético de Madrid sources, although they assure that, both from the sports management and from the club itself, “always confidence was transmitted to him”.
However, Morata needed to feel important in the team and that could only be given to him by the coach, who is the one who chooses the eleven.. And he did it in a talk in Seoul at the end of July during the preseason that the team played on Korean soil.. 20 minutes of conversation between the player and Simeone with Gustavo López as a witness under the scorching Asian sun, as revealed by Marca.
In that meeting, of which Cholo did not want to give specific details, he did confirm that he gave him to understand that he was an important player at an ideal moment.. “He's at a perfect age” and he also valued “how he gets along with his teammates” for his performance, he confessed about his connection with the locker room.
Internal sources describe him as “a very professional and very settled footballer” and confirm that “he gets along well with everyone” both with his teammates, to whom he constantly jokes, as could be seen at the media day that the club organized. before the derby, as with the workers.
Morata celebrates his goal in the derby. AFP
A deal, by the way, that also affects the selection. After the Rubiales scandal, Morata is moving so that the new presence, headed by Pedro Rocha, does not take retaliation against certain workers pointed out by the players in the women's section.
On the other hand, tactically, it is also very important for the game of the red and white team and what its coach intends.. «He is the best header of the top four. Morata is the most 9 of all and we need him,” confessed the Argentine coach.
He confirmed it with the two goals on Sunday, headers to centers by Lino and Saúl. Thus, Morata brings to 41 the number of goals scored with his head in his career (three of them this season), 23% of the total and two more, for example, than with his left foot.. A percentage of specialists in this luck such as Falcao or Llorente. Morata's head, today, is focused and at its best.