Aitor Karanka on Spain striker Alvaro Morata, who splits fan opinion but retains the trust of manager Luis Enrique
ALVARO MORATA may not be every Spanish fan’s cup of tea, as you would say in England.
But, in Luis Enrique, he has a manager who trusts him – and that is key.
Alvaro Morata has 27 goals in 57 games for Spain – but divides fansGetty
I have known Alvaro since I coached him at the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria.
He is the same character now as he was back then.
Sometimes his body language suggests that he can be affected by criticism, which he received at last summer’s Euros from some supporters who felt he was wasteful.
But, trust me, he does not care.
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So long as he has a manager who believes in him, he will not be disheartened if he misses a chance and will have full faith he will score the next one.
And he’s always trying to improve. He’s a great professional and a top striker.
There is a reason why he has 27 goals in 57 games for his country – putting him joint sixth on the all-time Spanish scorers list with my old Real Madrid team-mate Fernando Morientes – and why he will likely start on Wednesday against Costa Rica.
Morata is one of a few players Luis Enrique has selected that has not got as much game-time for his club as he would have hoped, along with left-back Jordi Alba.
Jordi is another player I worked with at youth level, specifically at Under-20.
He was a winger then for Valencia before he was converted into a rampaging full-back, a conversion the likes of Jose Gaya, also of Valencia, and PSG’s Juan Bernat have replicated.
You could tell Jordi would go on to have a great career, as he has done at Barcelona, because of how much he loved to play.
He would not be able to hide his anger if he was left out, or even if he was subbed off on 70 minutes!
Aitor Karanka played for Real Madrid and managed MiddlesbroughPA:Empics Sport
GettyLuis Enrique won the treble with Barcelona and now is in charge of Spain[/caption]
The selection of Alba, now 33, sums up how Luis Enrique manages his teams.
I remember when the 52-year-old was in charge at Barcelona and he was attacked because he didn’t play Alba. Everyone said he didn’t like the left-back.
Now he is being criticised because he has selected Jordi!
But Luis Enrique knows that if Jordi plays, he will perform well and help the team. And even if he is not, he will help the team from the outside.
That is the Luis Enrique mentality, always trying to find the best player for each game, forgetting what happened in the past.
The players know that and that is why any claims of Luis Enrique having a Barcelona bias are wrong – and that is coming from a former Real Madrid player!
Luis Enrique may have eight Barca players in his squad – calling up Alejandro Balde this week as a replacement for the injured Gaya.
But there will not be one comment within the squad of, ‘Balde is coming because he plays for Barca’. All of them know the 19-year-old has been picked for a reason.
But Luis Enrique will not care what any critics think. In fact the more flak he receives, the happier he is.
EPATeenager Gavi could light up this World Cup for Spain[/caption]
He has the same characteristics as a manager as he had as a player. He’s a fighter.
He was the kind of player that when he was your opponent, you wanted to kill him, but you would have loved to have had him in your team.
I played against him in a few El Clasicos for Real and every game was a war.
Now he has two of the most exciting talents in world football at his disposal in Barca midfield pair Gavi, 18, and Pedri, 19.
I love their character. They are teenagers and they play like they’ve been playing for years and years.
The only thing we have to be careful about is to compare them to Xavi and Andres Iniesta. They are different players, playing in a different environment who don’t have the same team-mates around them.
But they have a similar quality to Jude Bellingham, who left Birmingham for Borussia Dortmund just days before I took over as Blues manager in 2020.
I’ve never met him in person but I’ve been in touch with him because I met his brother Jobe there and his father. They are an amazing family.
Football comes so naturally to the likes of Jude, Gavi and Pedri. They do not seem to feel the pressure of the world stage.
They have the same mentality as they did playing in the playground.
It is now a decade since Spain won the Euros in Poland and Ukraine, ending a golden age of three major trophies in four years.
To replicate that will be difficult because back then everybody agreed Spain was the best. We had the best players, we had the best coach, we had everything.
Now we know we are not the best squad.
At this World Cup there are maybe seven or eight teams that can win: England, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Brazil… it is wide open.
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But as Luis Enrique has said: Spain will compete in every single game. And they can win every single game.
Aitor Karanka was speaking to Tom Barclay
