EURO 2020
Morata's wife urges "serious measures" after death threats and vile attacks on social media
The wife of Álvaro Morata, Alice Campello, called for action after the Italian model received a barrage of hateful messages during and after Italy's semi-final win over Spain.
For Spain striker Álvaro Morata, a joyful moment soon gave way to a painful one as Spain crashed out of Euro 2020 at the hands of Italy in Tuesday's semi-final.
The game finished 1-1 after extra time, with Italy winning 4-2 on penalties to book their place in the final. After scoring the equalizing goal that led the game to go to penalties, Morata missed Spain’s final spot kick in the shootout, which handed the tie to the Italians following his team mate Dani Olmo's earlier miss.
It’s been a tough tournament for Morata, who has faced death threats and vile comments on social media over the course of the competition. But during and after the Spain-Italy game, it was his Italian wife, Alice Campelllo -- who has worn the Spanish jersey for much of the tournament -- that bore the brunt of the vitriol, with several users posting comments attacking the model, her husband and even their three children.
Campello calls for action against those using hate speech
Following the barrage of hateful comments, Campello took to Instagram to vent her frustrations, and called for “serious measures” to be taken against those who resort to such hate speech on social media.
She also shared images of some of the despicable comments thar she received, which included: “Your husband has dog cancer and your children too”; “Cow, I am ashamed that you are Venetian, instead of showing off your money, help people, bitch”; “Don’t you dare publish photos of Morata’s goal or I will go to your house and burn you live on Instagram”; while another user said they that “Both you (Morata and Campello) and your children will die of a heart attack”.
"Honestly, I'm not suffering over any of these messages, really,” wrote Campello on social media in response to the messages. “I don't even think it's an 'Italian' factor, but one of ignorance. But I think if it had happened to a more fragile girl it would have been a problem. Sport is to unite, not to vent your frustrations. I really hope that in the future serious measures can be taken against these types of people because it is shameful and unacceptable.”
Morata on death threats
Following Spain’s 1-1 draw with Poland in their second group game -- in which Morata scored a goal but then later failed to convert an open-goal rebound opportunity after Gerard Moreno missed a penalty, which could have given La Roja the victory -- the Spanish striker opened up about the death threats and insults he had received in conversation with Radio Cope.
"I've received death threats, insults aimed at my family, saying that they hope my children die... but I'm fine, maybe a few years ago I would have been upset. I've spent a few weeks away from everything,” he said.
"I wish people would put themselves in my place: to be told that your children should die," he added. "When a tragedy happens, they would say: ‘this is a good guy’. Every time I get to the room, I put my phone away. What bothers me is that they say it to my wife, that they say it to my children. They tell them everything."