Thursday 14 May 2015 09:34, UK
Alvaro Morata showed Gareth Bale the way to goal to dump his former side out of the Champions League and put Juventus into the final, writes Nick Wright…
“He's cool in front of goal and a hard worker but we have no regrets about selling him.”
Those comments from Carlo Ancelotti earlier this season must have stung Alvaro Morata, but he could hardly have scripted a better response.
After scoring Juventus’ opening goal in the first leg in Turin last week, Morata’s clinical strike at the Bernabeu broke the hearts of his boyhood club and put Juventus into the Champions League final. The Spanish striker refused to celebrate out of respect for his former side, but on the inside he must have been buoyant.
Razor sharp
For Madrid, it was a case of deja-vu. Morata’s fairy tale return to the Bernabeu evoked memories of Fernando Morientes, another Madrid outcast who sent Los Blancos crashing out of the competition when he scored crucial goals for loan club Monaco in both legs of their 2003/04 quarter-final.
This year, there was a Clasico final at stake, but Morata was determined to spoil the party. He had fewer touches than any other outfield player at the Bernabeu, but he worked tirelessly and his predatory instincts were razor sharp when it mattered.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s first half penalty gave Madrid the edge, but after 57 minutes Morata eluded his marker, controlled Paul Pogba’s header on his chest before rifling a low finish beyond the despairing dive of his former team-mate Iker Casillas.
That Morata scored the decisive goal will come as little surprise to the Madrid fans who cheered him on last season. Playing opportunities were scarce among Ancelotti’s star-studded front line, but Morata still plundered eight goals at a rate of one every 70 minutes – the best strike rate in La Liga.
I’ve been in this type of situation, but you don’t know when you’re going to go back to a Champions League final, so enjoy it.
Morata spoke of having “barely had any relationship with Ancelotti” during his time at Madrid earlier this season, but life is good under Massimiliano Allegri in Turin, where he has scored 13 goals in all competitions so far.
“He’s enjoying his football,” said Sky Sports pundit Thierry Henry. “He loved this place. He didn’t celebrate in Turin and he didn’t celebrate tonight, but he’s playing. He’s going to go to the final of the Champions League playing against a team he doesn’t like too much in Barcelona, and he did it against his old team, his boyhood club. I’ve been in this type of situation, but you don’t know when you’re going to go back to a Champions League final, so enjoy it.”
Outshining Bale
Juventus still had plenty to do after Morata’s goal, his fourth in his last six Champions League appearances, but a combination of brilliant Gianluigi Buffon goalkeeping, resilient defending and the wayward finishing of Gareth Bale got them over the line.
Ironically, it was Bale’s £85million arrival at Madrid that eventually forced Morata to look elsewhere for first team football. How the Spanish giants would have loved the faltering Welshman to deliver a decisive moment like Morata.
While the Spaniard needed only two shots at goal to find the net, Bale spurned a string of opportunities. He had seven shots in total, three more than any other player, and he won’t enjoy replays of the close-range header he sent over the bar in the second half.
“The expectation at the club when you’re a world record fee is that you produce a moment of magic in a game like this,” said Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher. “Big players do big things at big moments, and tonight that’s what they needed.”
Henry was equally underwhelmed. “Bale was very passive tonight. He was reacting instead of acting,” said the former Arsenal striker.
Bale’s anonymous performance in last week’s first leg provoked fierce criticism of the former Tottenham forward, and his lack of confidence was clear to Carragher.
“He’s finding it difficult with his confidence, there’s no doubt. Ronaldo was quiet and never produced in the second half but he’s still sprinting around, he’s still trying to make things happen.
We’ve all been there when your confidence is not quite there. The way to change that is to sprint around and close people down.
“Watching Bale, you’re thinking, 'demand the ball'. We’ve all been there when your confidence is not quite there. The way to change that is to sprint around and close people down. Lift the crowd. He’s just jogging around and not demanding the ball.
“If he’s getting criticism at Real Madrid, I don’t think it’s about his ability,” added Carragher. “It might be about his character, in terms of demanding the ball and having that arrogance to get on it.”
While Morata and Juventus prepare for their first Champions League final since 2003, Madrid face a summer of uncertainty. The league title is almost certainly Barcelona’s, and a failure to win silverware leaves Ancelotti’s future hanging in the balance.
As the Italian boss reflects on what could prove his final European game as Madrid manager, he might wonder what might have been had he kept Morata at the club after all.
