Morata starts again

For five years during his time at Chelsea, alvaro morata He didn’t go through a sequence in return for four consecutive games like today at Atletico Madridwhere he returned at the beginning of the preseason, without a place in the eleven types of Diego Simeonebut with the answer of his three goals in the last two matches and as the top scorer of the Rojiblanco team in the season.

So, when Atlético 2022-23 took its first steps in the summer, with doubts about its future, with its always hidden exit until the end of the market, Morata won possession by scoring goals, in competition with Matheus Cunha and Joao Félix, which is also factored into the equation of offensive options; Antoine Griezmann, with a time limit of half an hour, and Ángel Correa.

From the beginning of the season to the break for the 2022 World Cup, in the 20-game tour available to the Argentine coach (including 2-1 in Porto, when he entered the squad, even though he was suffering from an injury), the ’19’ played 19 games, with the aforementioned obligatory exclusion of Do Dragao; 16 of them from eleven. He scored five goals and gave away one more.

Since returning from Qatar, the situation has been different for Morata: 15 official matches for Atlético, eight as a starter and seven as a substitute, although his production of goals has increased. He added seven goals in that number of games, averaging one goal every 109 minutes (seven in 768 in total), double what he did in the first section, averaging one every 230 minutes (five in 1,151 minutes of play).

His substitution was reaffirmed in the last four days. From 0-1 in Balaídos against Celta, on February 12, he was a substitute against Athletic Club (Ángel Correa was selected for attack with Antoine Griezmann), against Real Madrid (Marcos Llorente served as a striker with the French international) and against Sevilla (6-1) and Girona (0-1), with Memphis Depay-Griezmann as the attacking partner of Argentinian coach.

Since February 2018, Morata has not thought of starting the rivalry from the bench in four consecutive games.. That’s at Chelsea. From January 17 of that year, when he started in eleven matches at Norwich (1-1), until February 28, when the same thing happened in a 1-1 against Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ‘ team blue. ‘ at Hull City and 3-0 at West Bromwich. 233 official matches at club level later, it will happen again.

“Happy” for his work and attitude

In this context, his three goals are a validation of Morata. “I’m here to help, I want to play like all my teammates, but I’m very happy with my work and my attitude. It’s not easy many times to come in and do well. I hope we continue on this line. This shows that we are all strong together and continue like this “, he remarked in statements to ‘Dazn‘ at the end of the match in Montilivi, when he scored the winning goal for 0-1 in the 91st minute.

“I am very happy for him, because he is at the time when he is scoring goals and he is playing less than he expected, but, in the end, football is incredible, because the quantity of minutes is not important, but the quality of the minutes”, declared Simeone, who gave him the start in the 62nd minute at Girona, in the 64th minute against Sevilla, in the 76th minute against Real Madrid and in the 59th minute against Athletic. Valencia awaits on Saturday, perhaps as a starter… Or not.

He is Atlético’s top scorer this season. No one has beaten the opposition goal more than him in this course in the entire rojiblanca squad. Neither Griezmann (9), nor Correa (6), nor Yannick Carrasco (5), nor Marcos Llorente (3), nor Mario Hermoso (3), nor Memphis Depay (3), nor Pablo Barrios (2), nor Rodrigo de Paul (2), or José María Giménez (1), or Saúl Ñíguez (1)), completing Atlético’s list of scorers this season.

The 0-1 at Girona was the ninth game without defeat for the rojiblanco team in LaLiga Santander; an unprecedented streak throughout the season for Simeone’s block since he was champion in 2020-21, between December 19, 2020 and February 17, 2021, when he chained eleven unbeaten duels, which has nine wins. Now, he has six wins, four of them focused on the five most recent appointments. This is the third time.