Breaking Down Alvaro Morata's Performance for Juventus vs. Barcelona

As Juventus draw a line under their 2015-16 season, they do so having finished the campaign as league and cup winners in Italy, the Bianconeri securing only the third double in club history in Massimiliano Allegri’s first year in charge.

The coach made the biggest impact in Europe, guiding La Madama to the Champions League final and putting an end to their recent struggles on the continent. After being eliminated at the group stage last term, the team should—as noted in this previous column—be hugely proud of what they have achieved.

Even Saturday’s loss to Barcelona in the showpiece of UEFA’s elite competition contained positives, with the display of Alvaro Morata perhaps chief among them. After arriving last summer at a cost of €20 million, the former Real Madrid star quickly established himself as a viable alternative to countryman Fernando Llorente.

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Eventually supplanting the older man in the starting XI, Morata really made his presence felt in the Champions League, and it would be no different on Saturday night in Berlin. Once again selected alongside Carlos Tevez in attack, he would take the field hoping to continue his excellent form in the knockout stages.

Morata had netted four times in his previous six matches in the competition, but it would be Barcelona who struck first through Ivan Rakitic. For the next few minutes Juventus looked rattled, and no player more so than Arturo Vidal, with the Chilean eventually booked for a series of rash challenges.

As the game settled, Morata’s first real involvement arrived, the striker running down the right and getting the better of full-back Jordi Alba. With time and space, he picked out Vidal, only to look on as the midfielder blazed his shot over Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s crossbar by some distance.

A sustained period of Barcelona pressure followed, with a lone break by Morata—this time down the left flank—providing Juve’s only brief moment of relief. That came to nothing, snuffed out quickly by the hardworking Catalan midfield. Tevez eventually followed suit in the 23rd minute but was unable to find his strike partner in the box.

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From the resultant goal-kick, however, Morata would get his first attempt on goal, Juve catching Barca trying to over-complicate matters and he almost picked out the bottom left corner, and followed up by knocking Alba off the ball to create a similar opportunity for Claudio Marchisio who only narrowly missed.

That would be Morata’s last real involvement of the first half, and the second period began with another spell of dominance from the Spanish champions. Yet Juve would quickly get a foothold in the game, a wonderful backheel from Marchisio sending Stephan Lichtsteiner scrambling away down the right wing.

The Swiss international found Tevez, who spun and fired a wicked shot towards goal. Ter Stegen could only parry it—and just as he had against Real Madrid—Morata reacted quickest to prod the ball past the stranded goalkeeper.

This time there would be no respectfully muted celebration, however, with the striker wheeling away to enjoy a huge goal for the Bianconeri. It took his tally for the campaign to 15 in all competitions, making him the side’s second-highest scorer behind Tevez, while he has also added five assists.

He almost grabbed another just moments after the restart, heading an effort over the bar following a well-taken free-kick from Andrea Pirlo. Morata then made a smart pass of his own to Marchisio who in turn found Tevez once again. This time the Argentinian fired high over the crossbar from a good position.

Juventus were finally controlling the match, only to find themselves undone as a possible penalty for a foul on Paul Pogba was refused. Barcelona quickly restored their lead through Luis Suarez after a speedy counter-attack.

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Neymar was judged to have netted with his hand a few moments later, and the game went back-and-forth over the next few minutes. Ter Stegen was fortunate to see his punched clearance balloon over the bar after it struck Morata, the incident marking the striker’s last notable contribution.

He was replaced after 84 minutes, with statistics from WhoScored.com showing he touched the ball 30 times, took three shots and completed the same number of dribbles. The Madrid native also made one tackle, one interception and completed 91.7 percent of his pass attempts on the night.

It was another excellent display, and one he can look back on proudly this summer as he prepares to help the Old Lady once again next season.