SPAIN 5 – ICELAND 0 Morata tattoos the nine

Luis Enrique’s confidence in Morata is such that last Thursday, when De Tomás had to leave the Spanish squad due to injury, he decided not to call up another center forward to face Albania and Iceland. So it is understandable the great joy of the Spaniard to see Álvaro shine and score pairs in Riazor. That is the nine he trusts, the only player who has repeated ownership in the two friendlies. Morata has a permanent place in Qatar as the spearhead of a project that Luis Enrique is determined to take to the top.

The Asturian is a man of his word. He announced changes regarding Saturday’s game against Albania and he amply complied. Ten novelties in one fell swoop. Arnar Vidarsson, meanwhile, only made one change with respect to the draw achieved in Murcia against Finland. That is to say, the Icelandic coach’s wardrobe is less, which in the previous one remembered his running and running after Xavi and Iniesta in his time as a footballer. Now it was up to his pupils to sweat the fat drop to try to get hold of the ball.

That was the game from the first exchange of blows. In five minutes, Marcos Llorente had already reached the baseline twice. Those two raids were resolved without major damage to Runarson, but they presaged a storm in Riazor. Iceland was not Albania and Koke, even without being Busquets or Rodri, a couple in which the course of the Spanish game rests with Luis Enrique as coach, he felt comfortable with the task. The rojiblanco has been growing as the season progressed and he felt comfortable with that new suit. At 10 minutes he caressed what would have been his first goal with the La Roja shirt (in 62 caps), but the shot went high. That thread, from those lands, has since last Saturday the copyright de Olmo, who, thanks to his great goal against Albania, won the starting role at Riazor.

When Koke went a few meters up, it was Laporte, a partner in the center of Guillamón’s defense, who was in charge of initiating the Spanish attack. To take the temperature of the match, all you had to do was look at ball possession: 78% for Spain, 22% for Iceland. The predictable picture. The pity is that as the minutes progressed, the song drifted into the same chorus playing over and over again. Touch after touch to try to achieve superiority on the wings, with the grass leaning to the left side: Alba found the loophole to reach the baseline, while Azpilicueta had a much harder time enjoying that presence in attack.

Just then everything woke up. He did it in a play that did not seem to carry the danger signal until Guillamón leaked a low pass into the area where Soler, his partner at Valencia, let the ball pass when he saw Morata in the rearview mirror. The one from Juve did not fail: he controlled with his left foot, surpassed the defender with that gesture and finished off with his right. Two minutes later he signed the double by scoring the penalty committed by Birkir Bjarnason on Olmo. Clear penalty that did not even need the verdict of the chickens sexador (The patent belongs to Alfredo Relaño), because in these friendlies there is no VAR.

Those two goals cleared up the picture, because from that very moment La Roja liked it. Not even the break served to cool down the team, which struck again at 47′. Jordi Alba’s poison, with that ability to break lines whether he is 33, 34 or a hundred years old, made a dent in the Icelandic defense. Internship, center and auction of Pino, who was baptized in goals with the National Team. Alba makes the difficult easy and with that action she earned the break. The azulgrana left, so did Morata and Olmo, all of them with the taste in their mouths of having fulfilled their duty.

And everyone who entered his place did so animated by the party. To such an extent that the fourth and fifth goals were a carbon copy, with Marcos Alonso’s crosses and Sarabia’s shots. Riazor had a great time, Luis Enrique was proud of those in red who moved the ball as they had rehearsed since they concentrated in Las Rozas. So yes, the Asturian would think. The best thing about that 5-0 is having infected so many players with the idea that this Spain can do something great.