CROATIA MUST be sick of the sight of Alvaro Morata.
The 31-year-old coolly slotted home to open the scoring in Spain’s convincing win over their group rivals today, after latching onto a perfectly executed through pass from Fabián Ruiz.
It was the third successive Euros that Morata has scored against Croatia, becoming the first player to achieve such a feat.
The goal made the Atletico Madrid star the joint third-highest scorer in the history of the Euros (along with Alan Shearer and Antoine Griezmann) with seven, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo (14) and Michel Platini (9).
Most critics would argue that Morata is not quite part of this tournament’s elite class of strikers, a level below superstars like Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Yet the Spanish skipper’s record at international level is impressive — his ratio is practically a goal every two games, with 36 from 74 international caps.
Only David Villa, Raul and Fernando Torres have been more prolific in La Roja’s history, and the team will be hopeful the knock he picked up that led to his second-half substitution does not prove serious.
Yet perhaps unfairly, Morata has become synonymous with the Spanish team’s failures in recent years.
And Spain’s problem of late has been obvious. Too often, they have lacked a cutting edge in attack.
One remarkable stat to consider is that it’s almost 10 years since Spain were knocked out by a method other than penalties.
At the last three major tournaments, they have not necessarily been beaten by the better team — they drew three matches, 0-0 with Morocco and 1-1 against Italy and Russia before spot-kicks decided their fate.
The 2-0 defeat by Italy at Euro 2016 was the last time they have been dumped out over 90 minutes.
The attack has unquestionably been a problem during that period. Some pundits would argue that the country have lacked a world-class striker since David Villa’s heydey.
The ex-Barcelona star was key to Spain’s successes at the 2008 Euros and 2010 World Cup, though he missed the 2012 Euros and they still managed to triumph playing primarily without a conventional striker.
But even at their peak, Spain weren’t always comprehensively beating rivals.
They needed penalties to defeat Italy in 2008 and Portugal in 2012 after both matches ended scoreless.
They also won every one of their knockout matches 1-0 at the 2010 World Cup.
With Xavi and Andres Iniesta at their peak, Spain invariably prevailed with tika-taka, death-by-possession style.
Yet it has been a case of diminishing returns with this approach in the intervening years.
This issue was particularly pronounced at the last World Cup. It started promisingly with a 7-0 victory against a weak Costa Rica side.
But goals were an issue, as they scored just twice in their final three matches, drawing 1-1 with Germany and losing 2-1 to Japan before the shock exit against the Moroccans.
Perhaps tellingly, their front three today was entirely different from the one that crashed out in Qatar.
Dani Olmo, Marco Asensio and Ferran Torres started in 2022, with Morata only deemed worthy of a substitute appearance.
It was a familiar case of Spain dominating the ball without posing enough of a threat — they had 77% possession that day, but only hit the target once from 13 shots.
They haven’t exactly turned into Jack Charlton’s Ireland, but since Luis de la Fuente replaced Luis Enrique as manager, they have adhered to a more direct approach that appears to have paid dividends and gives them more of an attacking threat.
La Fuente’s side managed an impressive 25 goals in eight games in qualifying, winning 7-1 against Georgia and 6-0 versus Cyprus.
They had just 47% possession today against the Croats but were well worth their 3-0 win.
Spain’s run of 136 competitive games with more possession than their rival, going back 16 years to Euro 2008 final, is over. Croatia with 53% of the ball today - and Spain with the 3-0 win.
— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) June 15, 2024
The pace and trickery of Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal in the wide positions provide them with an extra dimension in attack and give defences something else to consider.
The reason Morata was able to exploit the space in the centre of the pitch for the opening goal was partially because Croatia were preoccupied with the threat out wide.
The oft-maligned former Chelsea striker now has the opportunity to show that he was never the problem in the first place with more opportunities likely to come his way.
Nevertheless, the usual caveats apply. Opening games in tournament football can prove notoriously deceptive.
Croatia very much looked like a fading force with players such as Luka Modric (39), Ivan Perisic (35) and Andrej Kramarić (32) having seen better days. In addition, an unconvincing qualifying campaign that saw them finish second in the group and lose to Wales and Turkey also suggests they are far from the formidable force of old.
Spain can take encouragement from this afternoon’s result and performance.
There are unquestionably teams at this tournament with a greater depth of individual talent.
However, the champions of 2008 and 2012 are showing signs of a clear, cohesive and effective strategy that has been conspicuous by its absence in the recent past.
