On Friday evening, reigning European Champions Spain faced Turkey in their second match of the Group Stage. An impressive 3-0 win saw Vicente Del Bosque’s side go top of Group D, and more importantly secure qualification to the knockout stages with a game to spare. One player in particular went from zero to hero in the win, Juventus striker Alvaro Morata.
Two years ago at the 2014 World Cup, Spain were knocked out in the group stage in their defence of the World Cup. An embrassing performance much like the Italians back in 2010, and a new era of Spanish players were brought in to ensure the defence of their European Championship didn’t end the same way.
One of those players was Alvaro Morata, and after some impressive performances for Juventus over the last two seasons including in the Champions League, Del Bosque then selected Morata for his Euro 2016 squad.
Diego Costa was dropped following a poor season with Chelsea and despite calls for Fernando Torres to make the squad following his return to form with Atletico Madrid, Del Bosque ignored them and selected Morata and Aduriz as his two strikers for the tournament. The Bianconeri striker would be the No 9 going into the first game; a huge vote of confidence for the player.
After a below-par performance in the opening game against Czech Republic, the pressure was on Alvaro Morata to deliver a performance for Spain against Turkey. The calls for Aritz Aduriz to start the game ahead of Morata were ignored, and the Juventus striker repaid the faith shown in him by Del Bosque to put on a man of the match performance for the reigning champions, scoring twice and putting some of the biggest clubs in the world on alert.
Let’s have a look at Alvaro Morata’s performance for the reigning Champions, the stats and numbers provided by the statisticians at Four Four Two and Opta.
1. Finishing His Chances
After failing to score in the opening game against Czech Republic, Morata was able to convert two of his five chances into goals. The first an excellent header into the top corner from Nolito’s cross and the second a 21 pass move from which Jordi Alba squared it across for Morata to tap in.
A 71% accuracy for shots on target over the two games, Morata is adapting his game to the style of this Spanish side. His positioning in the match was excellent, as he was always in and around the 18 yard box, whilst the likes of Fabregas, Silva and Nolito looked to create chances for him.
2. The Linking Of Play
Overall, Alvaro Morata is one of those strikers you can’t help but admire for the way he plays for his team. The improvement from the Czech Republic game where he received a rating of 6.48 as per WhoScored to a 9.1 rating for his performance against Turkey shows he learned to adapt his game and was rewarded for his efforts.
.@AlvaroMorata: MotM vs Turkey @SeFutbol http://pic.twitter.com/7IX1twSwfV
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) June 17, 2016
The post By The Numbers: Alvaro Morata appeared first on IFD.
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