A video on Alvaro Morata’s Instagram story yesterday showed that the striker has returned to training at Milanello, and he has the derby against Inter firmly in his sights.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport report this morning, Morata wouldn’t have played for the Spanish national team against Serbia anyway because he was suspended for chanting at the party in Madrid for the European Championship win.
Date targeted for return
However, after a low-grade lesion of the left rectus femoris muscle – sustained during the win over Torino – he could not wait to return to the field. Morata already has a specific date in his head: September 22, the evening of the derby.
The 31-year-old will probably return even earlier (he could already be on the bench against Venezia, when the season restarts, and then there’s Liverpool in the Champions League), but it’s for the match against Inter that he hopes to be at his best.
For this reason, yesterday the former Juventus striker huffed and puffed back and forth on the pitch at Milanello, despite Paulo Fonseca giving four days off to the rest of his team-mates. Alvaro also posted a short video while running in the pouring rain, receiving encouragement from fans.
What Milan are missing
On a technical level, after the arrival of Tammy Abraham, Milan can wait less anxiously for Morata’s return. The Englishman has already shown against Lazio that he can be more than just a reserve centre-forward.
Alvaro, however, is fundamental not only for how he plays, but also in his role as a leader in the dressing room, and his absence both in Parma and at the Stadio Olimpico against Lazio was greatly felt in this sense.
After all, we are talking about the captain of the Spanish team, the European champions, and someone who has won trophies everywhere he has been including at top clubs like Real Madrid, Juventus, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid.
Morata, whether due to experience, age or characteristics, stands out within the Rossoneri squad. It is no coincidence that he was the first to ring the alarm bell after the home draw against Torino, stating: “We need to take a step forward mentally, work hard, commit more fouls, become a tougher team.”
After that appeal, however, Alvaro was forced to withdraw due to injury and Milan had to do without him in the subsequent matches against Parma and Lazio, where Paulo Fonseca’s side managed just one point.
Off-field gossip
Professionally, Morata is focused on his recovery. But in Spain, in recent days, he has also been talked about for off-field events. The magazine Diez Minutos has published exclusive photos of the striker with his wife Alice in Madrid on its cover.
The couple had announced their separation only a few weeks ago and, to be honest, they were doing nothing but accompanying their children to school, but that was enough to spread gossip about their reconciliation.
Milan fans care more that the forward is calm to perform at his best on the pitch, like in the half hour against the Granata in his debut, perhaps the most successful portion of any match in what has been a disappointing start to the season in red and black.
The derby man
It was the only one played by Morata is probably no coincidence. Among the Spaniard’s qualities is also the predisposition to pressing on the opponent’s initial build-up, one of the issues most often cited by Fonseca to explain his team’s difficulties.
The former Atletico Madrid man, however, is also a man of important matches. Just scroll through the list of clubs against which he has scored the most goals in his career. First place with six goals against: Sevilla and Real Madrid.
As a former player, he hurt Los Blancos both with Juve and with Atleti. In the four derbies played against Real Madrid in 2023-24, Morata scored three goals, winning two and drawing another, but it doesn’t end there.
In Italy, Alvaro has three favourite victims, against whom he has scored four goals: Bologna, Parma and… Inter. Today, Milan fans hope he can become the talisman capable of breaking the derby curse: six defeats in a row, including the last one that saw Inter lift the Scudetto.
In April, however, Morata was not there. In fact, shortly before that – when he was with Atletico – he had eliminated the Nerazzurri from the Champions League. Who knows, maybe he’s a bit like kryptonite for Superman.
