Alvaro Morata drives the ball forward for Spain. Ph.FAB Via Shuterstock
During the postgame celebrations, Striker and captain Alvaro Morata appeared to have been injured by a member of the Spanish training staff who was trying to intercept a pitch invader.
Morata, 31, was subbed off in the 76th minute for what seemed to be tactical reasons, as he didn´t appear to be in any pain or discomfort before the incident. As La Roja made their way over to the Spanish fans behind their goal to show their appreciation for the fans´ fervent support, a pitch invader ran past Morata from behind, pursued by several neon-clad security guards. The fan passed Morata from his left to his right, apprehended by security moments before a burly man who was running towards the fan from Morata´s right, lost his balance and slid into the side of the striker´s right leg. Some outlets reported that the man who fell into Morata was a security guard, but in videos, the security guards in neon yellow, and the man who slipped is dressed in white and black, his shirt sporting a Spanish Federation crest.
Morata instantly reeled from the injury, trying to put weight on the knee before reeling in pain again and hopped over to his teammates for balance.
Over his career, Morata hasn´t suffered any major knee injuries, his only knee injury which caused him to miss extended time was an LCL sprain in February 2024, on that same right knee he appeared to injure. The February sprain was not very serious, only causing him to miss nine games.
While he has faced considerable criticism over much of his career for his goal conversion rate, many of the good things he does on the pitch are hard to quantify with statistics, his size and speed for a number nine make him a threat which opposing defenders must mark, and certainly in this Spanish national team side, he provides an important attacking option. Using his size to protect the ball, he allows Spain to quickly move the ball up the pitch to him, then letting him lay itoff to find speedy wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.
Another hole in the Spanish lineup
In this tournament, Spain has been no strangers to not having some of their premier players. In their semifinal match against France, Spain were missing two of their four starting defenders, Robin Le Normand and Dani Carvajal were both disqualified against France due to yellow cards they accumulated against Germany in the Quarterfinals. Filling in for them were Nacho Fernandez, longtime Real Madrid player and 38 year-old Jesus Navas. Navas, who plays for Sevilla in the Spanish La Liga, is the last player who remains from Spain´s ´golden generation´, winning the 2008 Euro Cup, 2010 World Cup, and 2012 Euro Cup.
Jesus Navas, 27 at the time, poses with the the European Cup in Kyiv after Spain´s 4-0 victory over Italy. Katatonia82 via Shutterstock
If Spain win their fourth Euro Cup on Sunday, Navas would become the oldest player of all time to win the Euros.
De La Fuente calms nerves
Spain´s manager, Luis de la Fuente downplayed the seriousness of the apparent injury, in the postgame press conference. “We are going to wait until tomorrow, (July 10th)” Said De La Fuente “We dont think it´s anything, his leg hurts but we think he´s going to be ok.”
If it is somehting more serious, Spain will have a question of who to start at striker, Morata will have five days of rest before the final on sunday in Berlin, but if he is unable to play, De La Fuente has options like Real Madrid´s Joselu, and Real Sociedad´s Mikel Oyarzabal.
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Written by
Tristan Kirkland
Hey everyone! I was born in Utah, United States, where I lived most of my life, before moving to Madrid when I was 17. I lived there for 7 years, graduating from Saint Louis University’s Madrid Campus in Journalism before Joining Euro Weekly News! Leave me a comment to tell me what you thought of the story!
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