On paper, Alvaro Morata does not stand out as having been a roaring success for Juventus given his €20 million price tag; his seven Serie A goals this season put him behind Middlesbrough flop Massimo Maccarone, among others, and less than halfway to 37-year-old Luca Toni’s total.
But it is in European competition that Morata is making his presence felt, and with one goal at the home of the club he joined as a teenager he has repaid his transfer fee by sending Juventus to their first Champions League final since 2003.
Morata now has four goals in his last six Champions League games. No Spanish player has scored more in the competition this season. He netted one at home and one away against Borussia Dortmund, and repeated the trick to even greater importance against Real Madrid, scoring two of Juventus’ three goals over 180 minutes.
Given Karim Benzema’s recent injury, Carlo Ancelotti may regret letting Morata leave. “I barely had any kind of relationship with Ancelotti,” he said in March. “Max Allegri, for better or worse, is always looking after me.” His contribution cannot only be measured in terms of his own performances but also in what he has brought out of Carlos Tevez, who is playing the best football of his career.
At 6ft 2in, Morata is capable of holding the ball up and bringing others into play but does so with greater precision and thought than Fernando Llorente. Tevez buzzed around him and was Juventus’ most creative player again, but Morata’s extra physical presence allowed him to pounce on Paul Pogba’s knockdown and punch a hole in the Madrid defence.
Barcelona await in Berlin. They have beaten the reigning champions of England, France and Germany on their way to the final but Italy’s top club can justifiably claim to boast the best defence in the world. If they can avoid the mistakes of the clubs Barcelona have faced so far, their young star in attack could be a difference-maker once again.
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