Euro 2024: Alvaro Morata at centre of controversy ahead of France Spain clash

Spain’s captain is at the center of a heated controversy ahead of the semi-final against the French team this Tuesday. Captain of La Roja, Alvaro Morata, is facing backlash on the eve of the match between Spain and France in the first semi-final of Euro 2024 in Germany. The Atlético Madrid player is heavily criticized following a controversial media appearance.

This Tuesday, Spain and France will clash at the Allianz Arena in the Euro 2024 semi-finals. Alvaro Morata, captain of La Roja, is being scorned by Spanish fans after being questioned about his future in the national team. Mentioning a lack of respect towards him in the team, the former Juventus striker announced his departure.

On Monday morning, the general newspaper El Mundo published an interview with Alvaro Morata, in which the player discusses this lack of respect that should push him to retire from international football after the Euro. “It’s likely that I will leave the national team after the European Championship”, the media headlined.

“I’m not unhappy at all. But it’s true that in Spain it’s very difficult for me to be happy. In the end, something always comes out somewhere. The other day, for making a gesture to the journalists, just whistling, a gesture I thought would stay between us, because a journalist raised it and…”, added the former Chelsea Blues player.

While he was expected to miss the match against France due to an accumulation of yellow cards, the player will ultimately be present against Les Bleus this Tuesday, as the card attributed to him was an error. However, according to the 31-year-old striker, some of his teammates in the national team did not want UEFA to overturn the card mistakenly given to him by UEFA.

“Well, I don’t know, it was just a gesture, but some took the opportunity to criticize, as always. As for whether I was given a yellow card or not, some have already said ‘well, I hope they give it to him,’ or ‘we play better without him’… Even when things are going well…”, lamented the Colchoneros striker.

But the timing of Alvaro Morata’s statement is viewed very poorly by some Spanish media. According to the Spanish show Partizado de Cope, the captain of La Roja’s statement is very poorly thought out just two days before such an important match.

Pascal Amstrong