There are no magic formulas in football. You can win the Champions League by putting Eto’o at right back, like Mourinho’s Inter in 2010, or sublimating possession football, like Guardiola’s Barça a year later. Few models exist further away. Nor does the path to the goal offer a single solution. Let what will be experienced tonight in Oslo serve as an example, where the beast Håland will measure his strength against Morata, a goalscorer far from clichés, in a duel more decisive for Norway than for Spain.
The chronicles say that the Norwegian star has not had a good start to the season. This translates into 8 goals in 12 games for Manchester City, albeit towards the Champions League, a competition in which despite everything he continues to score more goals (35) than appearances (32). For any other forward, Håland’s (Leeds, 2000) figures this season would be a source of pride. Not for a footballer who honors his ancestors with his viking comb and seems to have come into this world to break all records. “I’m tired of hearing my name, sometimes it’s a bit stressful”, he lamented just a few days ago. “But I appreciate the support, so I won’t complain”, he clarified later. The life of the elect has never been easy.
His selection, which was already absent from the World Cup in Qatar, needs him now, today, if it does not want to say goodbye to next summer’s European Championship as well. “We need the support of all of Norway against Spain”, emphasized the goalscorer after scoring a brace in the victory against Cyprus. He has scored six goals in his last four international matches, figures that have allowed him to recover his average of one goal per game with Norway after 27 internationals.
But Håland, Odegaard and company are more outside than inside. If Spain starts the triumph in Oslo, it will seal its automatic passport for the meeting with Germany and, at the same time, it will leave out its rival, who would be at the mercy of a numerical miracle to access the Machiavellian repechage designed by the UEFA and that depends on the latest Nations League.
The scenario for the polar opposite of the Norwegian predator, Álvaro Morata (Madrid, 1992), seems calmer. The Atlético player is going through the best scoring streak of his career and, especially with the national team, his role in the dressing room is getting more and more important. “It doesn’t look like it, but he has a lot of common sense, he is a very close person and always attentive to everyone”, they say from the Federation.
The withdrawal of Jordi Alba after winning the Nations League, the first title with the absolute for Morata, which was celebrated as it deserved, has given the captain’s armband to the Madrid native. A responsibility that has suited him more than anything else. “He’s an example for everyone and he protects young people, he shows what a captain should be,” De la Fuente says.
One of the tasks that stands out the most in Morata’s environment is his devotion to young people. He is always on top of them, trying to help them in everything. “Everyone has welcomed me very well, but I’m staying with Álvaro (Morata), since the first day he’s been like my father, he’s looked after me a lot”, Bryan Zaragoza, making his debut with La Roja, confessed on Thursday.
But assuming and consolidating this leadership, which is accompanied by goals (11 in 12 games this season between club and national team), has not been an easy task. Morata has suffered the cruelty of anonymity on social media, in the spotlight for many years, and at some point even retirement crossed his mind. But he chose to ask for help and was one of the first elite footballers to speak openly about mental problems. “A few years ago you said you were going to the psychologist and people laughed at you”, he confessed to El Travesser a few days ago. Now he continues to work with Adrià Carmona, a former member of La Masia, who acts as a coach and has helped him in this growth.
Håland and Morata represent the two sides of the goal.
