Atlético's Morata looking to break derby duck against Real Madrid
The striker played five capital city derbies for former club Real Madrid but failed to find the net in any of them against his current side.
Atlético striker Álvaro Morata has two objectives going into Saturday’s game against his former club Real Madrid: scoring his first goal for his new side and breaking his duck in the Madrid derby.
Morata featured in five derbies during his spell at Madrid, playing the full 90 minutes just once in his first appearance in 2013 in the Calderón as Madrid won a tight contest 2-1, Ángel di María scoring twice with Thibaut Courtois between the sticks for Atlético.
The Spain striker only saw 18 minutes of action as a Diego Costa strike settled the next derby in the Bernabéu and he was on the bench for the 3-0 Copa del Rey defeat inflicted on Atlético in February 2014.
In the Champions League final of the same season, Morata came on 10 minutes from time with Atlético leading 1-0 and remained on the pitch for extra time after Sergio Ramos’ equalizer but failed to find the net in Real’s eventual 4-1 win.
Morata waiting for Madrid derby strike
When the sides met again in the second leg of the semi-finals in May 2017, Morata was restricted to just a couple of minutes from the bench as Real went through to the final despite Atlético winning the game 2-1.
Between those games, Morata did return to bite Real Madrid in the backside. After being sold to Juventus in the summer of 2014, the striker scored in both legs of the Champions League semi-final against his former club later that season, hitting the net in the Bernabéu to send the Serie A side through to the final, where he also scored in Juve’s eventual 3-1 defeat to Barcelona.
Although Morata has yet to score in a Madrid derby, he has had more luck elsewhere, finding the target twice in four games during his time at Juve in the Derby della Mole and while at Chelsea he also found the net against Arsenal in the London derby.
On Saturday, Morata will try to add the Madrid derby to his laurels, while also opening his account for Atlético on his debut in the Metropolitano.
