Thursday, November 7, 2024, 16:53
| Updated 5:33 p.m.
The presence of Álvaro Morata in the call that Luis de la Fuente will offer this Friday for the next two matches that the Spanish team will face is up in the air. The Madrid striker suffered a severe blow to the head after colliding with his teammate Pavlovic during Milan’s training session this Thursday and had to be transferred to a hospital in the Lombard city for tests.
Although the MRI to which he has been subjected rules out that he suffers a serious injury, he will spend the night in hospital, according to ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’, and everything indicates that he will not play the match that will pit his team against him this Saturday. Cagliari as a precaution. His evolution in the next few hours will determine whether the Spanish coach includes him on the list for the last two matches that La Roja will have to face in the group stage of the Nations League: November 15 against Denmark in Copenhagen and the 18th of the same month against Switzerland in Tenerife.
Morata was one of the outstanding figures in Milan’s victory against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday. The man from Madrid was the author of the second of the goals scored by the team led by Portuguese Paulo Fonseca and generated constant danger in the vicinity of the Real Madrid area. He ended up leaving in the 70th minute of the game to make way for the Englishman Tammy Abraham and received a loud whistle from the Real Madrid fans, the club in whose youth team he trained and where he spent three seasons belonging to the first team, distributed in two stages.
His loss against Cagliari would be a setback for Paulo Fonseca, who has one of his most trusted men in the Spanish international. «Álvaro has been good, not only because of the goal. Also because of how he works, the way he creates opportunities, of creating doubts in the opponent… Everything he does for us is very important and I value it very much. Álvaro deserves our appreciation for everything he does,” said the Portuguese coach after Milan’s victory against Real Madrid.
A big deal signing after the Rossoneri club paid 13 million euros to Atlético de Madrid last summer for his services, Morata has become a fixture in Milan’s starting eleven. He has scored three goals and provided one assist in the twelve games he has played to date with the Lombard team, data to which we must add the advantage he has over his teammates.
He is also one of Luis de la Fuente’s praetorians. Captain of the Spanish team that was proclaimed champion of the Euro Cup on July 14 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, he should be one of the mainstays of the team that will travel to Copenhagen next week in search of first place in the group. With qualification for the quarterfinals of the Nations League assured after certifying victories against Denmark and Serbia in the October break, La Roja will seek to maintain the good streak and continue to boost morale. A point against Denmark at the Parken in Copenhagen would be enough to secure first place, which would allow them to compete at home in the second leg of the quarterfinals of a tournament in which they defend the title they won in 2023, also leaving them with a bullet left in chamber three. days later in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where they will close the first phase against Switzerland.
A list with many alternatives
Regardless of the presence or not of Morata in it, the list that Luis de la Fuente will give this Friday throws up another series of unknowns. One of the names that has been buzzing the most in recent weeks is Samu Omorodion, a Porto striker who has accumulated great records this season with both the Portuguese team and the Spanish under-21 team. Author of eleven goals in as many games with the Dragons shirt, the powerful 20-year-old attacker signed a poker against Malta in his last appearance with La Rojita and De la Fuente could give him the alternative with the absolute team, especially if Morata is absent .
Marc Casadó, another of the men of the moment, could also enter the call. The Barça youth player has become one of the great revelations of the League as a positional midfielder for a team that is flying in the League and is also trading high in the Champions League. With Rodrigo Hernández injured and Martín Zubimendi as a fixture in that key area of the field, the Blaugrana seems to have an advantage over Barrios or Pepelu when it comes to offering a guaranteed alternative to the Real Sociedad pivot, without forgetting Aleix García. Iñigo Martínez, another of the strongholds of the team coached by Hansi Flick, is also in the pools to return to the rearguard of a team that the Basque center back has represented in 21 games, but whose shirt he has not worn for almost a year.
