Kicking the autumn leaves at Milanello is Frank Rijkaard. He is filming his kids and showing them around a training ground so bucolic, it alternated as a wedding venue when Milan fell on hard times in the early 1980s. Rijkaard signed a few years later, once owner Silvio Berlusconi rescued the club and Milan changed football forever. He was one of the three Dutchmen and, as Rijkaard visits Milanello, it just so happens to be his team-mate Marco van Basten’s 60th birthday back in the Netherlands. In the club house, a series of black framed photos are set on red walls. Snapshots from several eras recall famous nights like the time Milan beat Tuesday’s opponents Real Madrid 5-0 in 1989.
Having played for both clubs, Alvaro Morata is well-positioned to tell us about the similarities between the European Cup’s two most successful teams. Milan and Madrid have won 22 combined. Do they have the same aura? “Completely,” he says in his husky, breathless Madrileno accent. “That’s exactly what it’s like. Before coming to Milan everybody told me the air you breathe here is different. It’s enough to come and eat in the restaurant here at Milanello. You look around and see all the players who have won things for Milan. For me, Milan has always played an important in football history.”
It’s the club’s 125th anniversary this month and Morata is speaking in connection with a book published by Assouline to commemorate the event. Since joining Milan from Atletico Madrid in the summer, he has worn the No 7 shirt that once belonged to Andriy Shevchenko. As a boy growing up in Spain, however, he was given one made famous by another of Milan’s six Ballon d’Or winners. “My sister gave me Kaka’s jersey as a present,” Morata recalls. “I remember his goal against Manchester United (in 2007).” That would be then one when he chased down a Dida goal kick at Old Trafford, flicked the ball over Gabriel Heinze and caused Patrice Evra to smash into his team-mate before coolly slotting the ball past Edwin van der Sar. “I remember the boots Kaka had; everything about him,” Morata continues. “Milan fought for the Champions League in that era and I remember the games.”
Morata captained Spain in their victorious Euro 2024 campaign (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Madrid’s current coach, Carlo Ancelotti, was in charge of Milan at the time and led them to three finals between 2003 and 2007. Since then, state wealth has entered the game in the form of Abu Dhabi and Qatar buying Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, and the Premier League has been run so effectively it has left its peers for dust in revenue creation. Which raises the question: can Milan, Champions League semi-finalists the season before last, get back to the competitiveness of two decades ago? Morata believes our enduring love for this sport is still down to its residual unpredictability.
“In football you never know,” he argues. “Last year Borussia Dortmund weren’t doing well in the league or in general. They reached the Champions League final and who knows if the shot (Niclas Fullkrug made) had gone in and not hit the post (at 0-0) maybe Borussia are champions of Europe now. That’s the beauty of the Champions League. Every year teams that nobody expects are there or thereabouts.” He thinking of Dortmund in 2024, Inter Milan the year before, Tottenham in 2019, the Juventus team he played on in 2015, Atleti a decade ago. Three of those five clubs are past winners. They’re huge clubs with genuinely illustrious traditions who, increasingly, are framed as unlikely lads in an age of unprecedented economic stratification.
“We have to believe,” Morata says. “We’re AC Milan and we have to aim to win everything. If you lose against a top side it’s because it is the Champions League, but we’re obliged to think we can do it. If you don’t get there, you don’t get there — but we have to think it’s possible.”
Morata joined Milan in the summer from Atletico Madrid (Francesco Scaccianoce/Getty Images)
Confidence is ephemeral at Milan this season. After an encouraging pre-season in which they went unbeaten against Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona in the U.S., the Rossoneri trailed Torino 2-0 at home in their first official game of the new campaign only for Morata to come off the bench, score on his debut and help the team rescue a point in stoppage time. Defeat at newly promoted Parma then followed and Paulo Fonseca, still fresh from being hired as Stefano Pioli’s replacement, boldly chose to drop Theo Hernandez and Rafa Leao, two of the team’s most influential players, for the trip to Lazio. Behind 2-1, the pair of them came on in the 70th minute and immediately bailed Milan out, combining for an excellent goal before appearing to snub Fonseca by standing as far away as possible from the subsequent cooling break he used as a time-out. As the Milan bus wound its way into San Siro a week later for the game against Venezia, the ultras held up a banner saying, “No more excuses. Last call.”
Milan won that game and the derby against Inter, ending a six-game losing streak against their rivals. But results continue to be up and down, and the players disregarded Fonseca’s orders for Christian Pulisic to take penalties in the 2-1 defeat at Fiorentina when David de Gea saved spot kicks from Hernandez and Tammy Abraham. “I think we’re finding more mechanisms,” Morata says. It’s often forgotten, Milan have changed system and the way they mark. “We’re doing things more naturally now. We’ve got a lot of new players (five), a new coach. But the time to adapt is up, we have to do it right away.”
Bravely or foolishly — only time will tell — Fonseca has repeatedly dropped Leao in pursuit of more balance. Milan’s go-ahead goal against 10-man Club Bruges in their only win in the Champions League so far came so quickly after the Portuguese winger’s substitution that he was still trudging off the pitch. Leao has become a polarising player in Italy. On the one hand, he is viewed as an unfulfilled super-talent. On the other, he still has more goals and assists than any other player in the league since Milan last won the Scudetto by clinging on to his coat-tails.
“Rafa has talent,” Morata says. “He’s the best player on the team and just needs to keep doing what he’s doing. It’s only a phase and, often, it’s like that for attacking players. A big goal or an easy one will be enough for him to get his confidence back. It’s not easy. Everything Rafa does is a story, but he’s so important for us and we need him. He knows that perfectly well. He’s working hard and it’s just a phase. His time will come this season and he’ll make us win.”
Morata knows better than anyone what it’s like to be scrutinised, doubted and questioned whether he’s good enough. In some respects, his career is a tale of how the discourse around football has often become unmoored from context. A tiny percentage of players make it. An even tinier number get the opportunity to move to a big club. When that opportunity presents itself it may happen only once, so hyper-competitive is elite football. And yet Morata has had two spells at Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Juventus with each of whom he has had 20-goal seasons in all competitions. He has been to three Champions League finals, playing in two of them and scoring in one. Even his 18 months at Chelsea started with six goals in his first six league games. Morata also scored in the quarter and semi-finals on the way to winning the FA Cup in Antonio Conte’s last season.
Morata won the FA Cup with Chelsea in 2018 (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Conte, Ancelotti, Zinedine Zidane, Diego Simeone, Max Allegri and Andrea Pirlo all rated him, and it was clear when he joined Milan in the summer that he has the pedigree to play at San Siro. Chances missed and goals ruled out for offside are more magnified when you only play for the biggest clubs in the world and they have perhaps been given a disproportionate amount of attention in respect to the games Morata has decided. “It’s normal. As you say, they’re all the best teams in the world. It’s normal to have pressure playing at San Siro, playing in the Champions League, and every time you pull on a shirt like this. Every game brings responsibility. It’s more a privilege (than a burden). Many players would give anything to play for these teams and I’ve been fortunate enough to play for lots of them at the highest level. I’m very happy about that.”
The Morata that arrived in Milan this summer is different from the one who arrived in Italy 10 years ago, fresh from winning and finishing as top scorer at the Under-19 and Under-21 Euros with Spain. At 32, he’s obviously more mature than he was at 22, but Morata has developed into a leader. At Juventus he looked up to Gigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Pirlo and Leonardo Bonucci. At Real Madrid, it was Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas. Now at Milan and with Spain the players look up to him. He may not strike people as alpha, but Morata followed Casillas as the only player to captain Spain to international success at the Euros in July. He was the player hoisting the Henri Delaunay trophy aloft at the Olympiastadion after a 2-1 win over England. Morata showed a lot of people they had got him all wrong.
“Yes, lots (of people),” he says. “I had to read that I wasn’t good enough to be captain, that we weren’t a good team, that it wasn’t possible to win the Euros. It wasn’t a vendetta, because at the end of the day I don’t have to prove myself to anyone — but it was great. Films and documentaries are coming out (about the Euros) and the people will get to see what we did. England and France (who Spain eliminated in the semi-final in Munich) have top sides but I think we were the best because of the team spirit we have. I think we won for that reason.”
Celebrating a Champions League goal for Real Madrid in 2016 (Angel Martinez/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
Spain’s coach, Luis de la Fuente, called Morata the best captain Spain could hope to have. Some traits that continue to be viewed in out-dated parts of society as signs of weakness — vulnerability, sensitivity, empathy — are, in fact, Morata’s strengths. To some, leadership is about shouting and bawling, and scaring team-mates into not making mistakes in the hope it raises standards. Morata looks out for his team-mates in different ways. He cares. After Mikel Merino scored the winner in the last minute of extra-time against hosts Germany in the quarter-final, Morata went looking for the ball to make sure the midfielder had it as a souvenir. The following day, a rest day for the players involved in the game, he trained with the guys who hadn’t been involved against the Germans.
“To me, success in life isn’t winning a Euro, a World Cup, a Champions League or scoring 600 goals,” Morata explains. “The biggest success you can have is when all the people you get to spend your days with — the people you work with — get to really know you. You’ll never find a team-mate, a mate, or a person who I’ve spoken to and opened up with who doesn’t say I’m a good person — and that’s the most important thing to me. The hidden side to me is that I try to help everyone. I like making other people feel good and people will come to realise that’s why I became captain and did a good job at it, because I made the others give their best. When you don’t worry about yourself but the people around you it’s a very beautiful thing.”
Amid the scepticism Spain faced going into the Euros, Morata stood up for his companions. He felt there was a lack of appreciation for the talent in the squad. “Before the tournament, I did an interview with a Spanish media outlet,” he recalls. “I got a bit pissed off because they said to me, ‘Spain doesn’t have a world class player. They don’t have a star’. I replied, ‘For me Merino is a star, Fabian (Ruiz) is a star, (Dani) Olmo is a star. All of them’. The players I mentioned were the best players at the Euros. They made us win. From that moment onwards everything changed. They were guys who weren’t appreciated in Spain. It’s a shame we had to win the Euros to make everyone realise how good the players we have in Spain are. That’s what it was like.”
One player who was already held in high esteem was Rodri. Player of the tournament at the Euros, he has been indispensable for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and, by scoring the goal in the 2023 Champions League final, delivered his club the treble that their Abu Dhabi owners had spent 15 years seeking. “I expected and hoped (he’d win the Ballon d’Or),” Morata says a few days after Rodri collected the trophy in Paris and became the first men’s player from Spain to win it since the original Luis Suarez in 1960.
“Today, it’s a big success for Spain to have Rodri on the pitch in the same way it was with Sergio Busquets before him. Busquets deserved a Ballon d’Or as well. Players like them don’t stand out like a striker or a winger, but they control Spain’s play. They’re the architects of our play. We’ve had so many quality players in these positions like Andres Iniesta, David Silva, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas. All these guys. Now Olmo and Fabian drive the team too. They take command, manage games. They don’t lose the ball and they win it back. They’re two fenomeni.”
Morata spares a thought for six-time Champions League winner Dani Carvajal too, who, like Rodri, is currently recovering from an ACL injury. “It would have been the same for me if either of them had won the Ballon d’Or,” Morata says. “They’re both Spanish. They’re both mates. I would have been happy if Carvajal had won. We’ve known each other since we were kids. I’m proud of him, of how he goes about his work and the way he approaches life. I would have been just as happy for him. There are players on other teams from different countries who deserved it too but I’m Spanish and there’s no greater pride than seeing a Spanish player on top of the world.”
No conversation about Spain would be complete without mention of Lamine Yamal, who spent the summer alternating school exams with sensational goals like the one he curled past Mike Maignan in the semi-final against France. “He’s got a very determined character,” Morata observes. “That’s hard to find in a person his age (17). He’s got a very clear idea about what he wants to do. He’s got a lot of personality and has everything in front of him. Honestly I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen a player like it. One training session was enough to realise he’s different, that’s he one of the fenomeni.
Morata is already convinced of Yamal’s potential for greatness (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
“Every 20 or 30 years one or two emerge like Cristiano and Messi. For me, he’s got everything it takes to make history. I’m convinced that if he doesn’t become the greatest player in Spain’s history, he’ll definitely be one of them. He already made history with us by winning the Euro. He was 16 when the tournament started and I hope he keeps this up because he’s my team-mate, because he can make me win more things with the national team and because my kids want to meet him, get to know him, go watch the games and all that.”
How do you protect a talent like that, though? Too much too soon can catch up with even the most level-headed player. It can be overwhelming. The care Morata shows for his team-mates is why he would like to become an agent one day. “I know I can help players not make the mistakes I made. To help them, advise them and guide them in their career.”
The Athletic remarks on Rodri’s decision not to be on social media. He is not exposed to the same toxicity that players can be inundated with on Instagram and X. “He’ll definitely be more tranquillo than those who have it,” Morata says. “Social media platforms are like the stock markets. One day things go really good. The next they’re really bad. It depends on results and the mood of the people who follow you. When you have social media you have to know that people can write anything to you without putting their face to it.”
Players come under enough strain as it is — both mental and physical, particularly as competitions like the Champions League and domestic Super Cups expand (so they can be hosted in Saudi). New competitions keep getting added too, such as the Nations League final four and upcoming Club World Cup. “There’s no time to switch off,” Morata says. “With all the games we have, we can’t take four or five days to switch off.”
He is acutely aware footballers are privileged. At the same time they’re humans too and, as well paid as players at his level are, the most precious things of all are health and time.
“We don’t have time,” he says. “Often, like this year, when the summer started I’d had maybe two or three free days because I was either rehabbing an injury, on international duty, or playing away from home. You spend five or six hours at the training ground then do interviews, press commitments, sponsorship engagements. Lots of things. It isn’t all what it seems on social media. It’s a responsibility and you can take it well or not.”
“The hidden side to me is that I try to help everyone,” Morata says (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
The grind can be wearing. It takes a mental as well as physical toll.
Morata spoke up only last month about depression and panic attacks just as his former team-mates, notably Buffon and Bojan Krkic, have done in the past. They helped Morata through tough times but, he acknowledges, “I only understood it later in my career.” He reveals, “I spent a lot of time fighting against my mind and, in the end when I couldn’t take it any more, I asked for help. You don’t have to reach the limit to ask for help and treat this problem.”
It doesn’t help that there is so little balance in football. “We have to be ready to go from heaven to hell in a split second, on account of a chance, or a few centimetres,” he says. “At times those centimetres can be the difference between making history and not. Imagine if Olmo wasn’t on the line at the Euros (when he made a heroic clearance to stop England’s Marc Guehi equalising and sending the final to extra-time). Small details like that can change your life and your career. Everything can change, so you have to be ready for all situations and prepare yourself mentally.”
Morata believes more should be done to sensitise the public to mental health — and not just in football either. As the father of three boys, he was alarmed to read a recent study about the number of panic attacks in young people. “I don’t understand why in schools they put so much emphasis on teaching kids the names of all the rivers in Spain and Italy and not on mental health. They have to be ready for it and know there are specialists out there. It’s not an argument that only needs raising in sport. More emphasis needs placing on it in all aspects of life. It’s like going to the gym to improve your body or on the pitch to work on your technique. Everyone needs to unload stuff when things aren’t going well. There are professionals who can help and change your life.”
Milan overcame Monza 1-0 at the weekend and are now preparing for Madrid. As someone who came through at Real and won everything with them only to later identify with Atleti, things are never easy when Morata goes back to the Bernabeu. “In the end I think it’ll be the same,” he says. “I don’t think things have changed a lot. But I’m aware of it and I expect to be whistled and everything. It’s normal.” Part of the game. More than a game. A mind game. One that Morata is huskily winning.
(Header design: Eamonn Dalton; Photos: Getty Images)
