Real Madrid vs. Juventus: Morata Could Haunt Former Club

You wouldn’t necessarily guess it when looking at their starting lineup, but Real Madrid have a very productive youth academy. It’s known as La Fabrica, and it churns out multiple talented players with each passing generation.

In the mid-to-late 1980s, Real Madrid won five successive La Liga titles with La Fabrica as their bedrock. Homegrown players, including Emilio Butragueno, Manuel Sanchis and Michel, became club legends. The success of Los Blancos was interwoven with the success of La Fabrica.

Nowadays, the club’s achievements are irrespective of La Fabrica’s results. There remain only a few small clues hinting at the possibility of a future for youngsters to develop into Real Madrid first-team players.

There’s Iker Casillas, the club icon turned pariah. Then there’s Dani Carvajal, the energetic right-back who is set to lose his place in the summer when Danilo arrives from Porto. Further up the pitch, Jese faces a futile fight for playing time in the face of Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez.

Alvaro Morata could have been involved in this struggle, but he, like so many others before him, decided to take flight in search of regular football.

The striker was doing just fine, especially considering his age. In his only full season of first-team action in Madrid, he averaged a goal every 70 minutes in all competitions, per WhoScored. He even came off the bench in the 2014 Champions League final. But it wasn’t enough.

Carlo Ancelotti knew just as much. Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, he said: “Alvaro needed to be playing regularly…it was he who expressed his desire to go where he could find more room and play more regularly.”

Disillusioned with life primarily spent sitting on the substitutes bench, Morata moved on. Juventus came calling and beat off competition from the likes of Arsenal and Wolfsburg for his signature. The move has worked, both for Morata and his new employers.

Playing alongside Carlos Tevez in a 4-3-1-2 or a 3-5-2, Morata has injected some much-needed pace to the Juventus front line. Tevez supplies the guile, Morata offers greater thrust. The combination has been tantalising at times, never more so than against Dortmund in the Champions League round of 16.

Pulling out wide, Morata attacked the space left vacant by Dortmund’s raiding full-backs in both legs of the tie. His deflected shot set up the opening goal in the 2-1 home win before he himself bagged the second. In the away leg, Morata put in one of his best performances in a Bianconeri shirt.

As in the first leg, Morata drifted wide, where his directness and speed were a real outlet for Juventus to utilise. On 60 minutes, he showed his physicality by barging Mats Hummels off the ball. Ten minutes later, he scored to make it 2-0 on the night, timing his run to perfection as Tevez drew out the 'keeper and squared for him to tap in.

Juventus’ 5-1 aggregate win had a lot to do with Morata’s effective dovetailing with Tevez. Indeed, watching Morata over the course of these two games, it became clear why Real Madrid had ensured a buy-back clause was included in his sale.

The clause was presumptuous, however. For starters, it assumed Morata would want to return to Madrid.

When Juventus and Real Madrid were paired together in the Champions League semi-finals, it was natural that attention would fall to Morata in the circumstances. That doesn’t seem to have fazed him, though.

In Turin for the first leg, Juventus won 2-1 with Morata opening the scoring. He bowed his head and refused to smile, disengaging himself from the moment. It was respectful, but his overall performance wasn’t suggestive of a man shying away from the potential awkwardness of it all.

Per the Daily Mail, Morata told Sky Sports that he didn’t hold a grudge against the club that produced him before deeming him disposable, saying: “I don't have to prove anything to anyone…I am a Juventus player now…I do not think about Madrid, I'm happy in Turin.”

That feeling will probably change tonight when he lines up against his former team-mates in the stadium he once dreamed of shining in. At that point, he will be forced to come to terms with his revived identity.

Morata came through the ranks of La Fabrica but is defining himself with Juventus. Tonight, with a Champions League final up for grabs, Real Madrid could be haunted by a product of their own youth academy.