Alvaro Morata, Spain
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Sam Marsden’s Spain v Poland preview: Enrique likely to stick with misfiring Morata

| 15.06.2021
SPORTSBOOK ODDS

Our Matchday Squad journalist will be covering Spain throughout Euro 2020

Spain coach Luis Enrique appears determined to stick with misfiring Alvaro Morata despite increasing pressure for him to drop the striker against Poland on Saturday. 

Morata missed Spain’s best chance as they were held to a goalless draw by Sweden in their Euro 2020 opener and he’s now without a goal in four games for La Roja. However, his overall record for his country isn’t terrible with 19 goals arriving in 41 caps, including three at Euro 2016. He also scored 20 for Juventus last season.

Luis Enrique has come out in defence of Morata this week, hinting he will resist calls to replace him with Gerard Moreno. Despite being in the eye of the storm, Morata’s been all smiles around the Spain camp and you’d back him repay his coach’s confidence if his teammates can put the ball on his head.

It’s not just Morata, though. Goals are a problem for Spain in general. Dani Olmo looked most likely to score against Sweden, who sat deep, allowing Spain to have over 80 percent of the possession. More of the same can be expected against Poland if they can’t find an early breakthrough in Seville.

Check out the latest Euro 2020 odds.

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Author

Sam Marsden

Samuel Marsden is a sports journalist who covers Spanish football for ESPN and the Catalan newspaper Diario SPORT.

He has been based in Barcelona for eight years but regularly travels to Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla and all across Spain to cover La Liga, the Champions League and the Spanish national team.

He primarily focuses on Barca and has interviewed Javier Mascherano, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Luis Suarez and Frenkie de Jong, among others, in recent seasons.

Prior to his current work, he freelanced for the Daily Mirror, Goal, Bleacher Report and the BBC.

Sam is originally from Cornwall, England, but is a Burnley fan, for which he blames his dad.