And he eventually showed it post-match, the Spain coach finally saying what he meant in the press room under the stand after their first pre-Euro 2020 friendly, a 0-0 draw vs.
“That last play in which Alvaro Morata, after killing himself pressing and having helped us in so many ways, creating danger, being a constant problem for the Portuguese players, doing an incredible job, is still able to go on a 40-metre run at full speed and trick the goalkeeper, but have the bad luck that the ball goes a fraction high and hits the bar,” Luis Enrique said.
It was probably the best of his shots — very nearly, but very much not perfect — and this time, in a game that ended scoreless, it prompted a chant.
At full-time there were some whistles, too, but the Spain coach said he didn’t care much about those ones.
Again, Morata was subject to whistles from the fans as Spain could only draw 0-0 with Sweden, the best two chances falling his way.
“Luck wasn’t on his side today in front of goal, but that will change.
Luis Enrique has rarely been popular in Madrid, not since he left the Bernabeu for Barcelona — certainly not since he made such a point of how much better off he was there, more than a hint of enjoyment in winding people up.
There were lots of reasons for that, and some of them were even legitimate.
In that friendly against Portugal, the profile of some of the fans in the stadium was perhaps revealed when former Real Madrid defender Pepe was withdrawn to a standing ovation, a contrast that would later prove cruel to how they reacted to Morata.
That said, it should be noticed that the Spain fans had also spent the whole game booing Cristiano Ronaldo, like some sort of pantomime villain.
There were more footballing reasons for the reaction, too, and let’s not forget or get overly puritanical about this: in Spain, fans whistle.
Also, there are doubts about the national team, who recently struggled against Greece and, um, then put six past Germany.
He left Real Madrid and made a point of saying that Atletico Madrid were his boyhood team — quite honestly, that may have played a part in the fans’ reactions too — but then ended up heading to Juventus.
A killer instinct, a nastiness, something — his family told him he had to be more like Diego Costa when he went to Chelsea in 2017 — and you wonder if you can rely on him.
But here’s the thing: while that might increase the fans’ frustration and the temptation to take it out on him, that’s not a reason to get on a player’s back like this.
There has been at times a heavy hint of vulnerability about Morata, a sense that things weren’t quite right.
Morata has talked openly — remarkably openly, in fact, about pressure — in the past about not always feeling right, about his head going down.
Morata knows that, but it doesn’t make him impermeable, it doesn’t mean it’s not on his mind, and it doesn’t mean he doesn’t hear the songs.
The Italian goalkeeper insisted that Morata could be among the world’s best “if only he could get over his mental hang-ups.” Behind the scenes he helped Morata, guided him.
Tomorrow, he said, Spain’s line-up against Poland would be “Morata and 10 others.” He even sent Morata out to meet the media in the pre-match press conference: it was a show of strength and togetherness, an attempt to get him to stand tall, proud, to have his say.
This was a manager protecting and projecting his player: pushing sure, but helping him too, guiding him, reinforcing him, telling the doubters that he was not one of them and nor was he going to backdown, whatever thy said.
Because this is a person and because this is a player: Alvaro Morata is Spain’s striker, your striker, someone you’re supposed to get behind.