Álvaro Morata

Real Madrid

Morata signed for Real Madrid in 2008 from neighbouring Getafe after starting out at Atlético Madrid, and appeared for Real Madrid C while still a junior. In July 2010, after a successful season with the Juvenil A team, where he won two youth titles and scored 34 goals, he was promoted to Real Madrid Castilla, Real's reserve team. Later that month, first-team manager José Mourinho took Morata and four of his teammates on a preseason tour in the United States.

On 15 August 2010, Morata made his debut with Castilla in a friendly match with Alcorcón, scoring the only goal of the game. His Segunda División B debut came on 29 August in a 3–2 win against Coruxo, and he scored his first competitive goal in a 1–1 draw against Alcalá on 31 October. On 12 December 2010, Morata made his debut for the first team when he was brought on as a substitute for Ángel Di María in the 88th minute of a 3–1 La Liga win at Real Zaragoza. Ten days later he made his first appearance in the Copa del Rey, again coming off the bench in the last few minutes. In January 2011, after Gonzalo Higuaín's injury, the Spanish media expected Morata to be his replacement in the main squad. Mourinho, however, rejected this, saying that "Morata is not yet ready to be a starter at Madrid. He trains with us, but he has to continue learning with Castilla". In this period Morata scored five goals in four matches with the reserves, while Emmanuel Adebayor was signed to replace Higuaín in the first…

Youth

Morata was selected to the Spain under-17 team for the 2009 U-17 World Cup in Nigeria, playing four matches and scoring two goals as Spain finished third. Subsequently, he represented the under-19s at the Japan International Tournament, helping Spain finish second behind the hosts. Morata was selected by Spain for the 2011 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Romania, helping the national team win the tournament with six goals, the highest in the competition. He made his debut with the under-21s at the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Israel, scoring the only goal in each of the first two group games against Russia and Germany, in the 82nd and 86th minutes respectively. He closed out a perfect group stage with his third goal, against the Netherlands in a 3–0 win. In the semi-final against Norway, after appearing as 58th minute substitute for Rodrigo Moreno, Morata scored his fourth goal in four matches and assisted a goal for Isco. He returned to the starting line-up for the final and assisted captain Thiago Alcântara's sixth minute opening goal in a 4–2 win over Italy. Morata's four goals in five matches won him the Golden Boot award for top goalscorer. He was also named in UEFA's Squad of the Tournament.

Senior

On 7 November 2014, Morata was called up to manager Vicente del Bosque's senior squad for matches against Belarus and Germany. He made his debut against Belarus on the 15 November, replacing Isco for the last ten minutes of a…

A striker, in his younger days, Morata was compared to Real Madrid and Spain's Fernando Morientes due to his playing style. During his first season at Juventus he stood out for his pace, energy, physicality and work-rate on the pitch, while his technique, opportunism, heading ability and positional sense saw him score several crucial goals. Despite this, Morata has been criticised for his inconsistency in front of goal and perceived poor mentality, most notably during his time at Chelsea. He has also been praised for his leadership.

Morata was born in Madrid to Susana Martín and Alfonso Morata. His father is heavily involved in transfer negotiations alongside Morata's agent, Juanma López. In March 2014, Morata shaved off all of his hair in solidarity with sick children, saying "kids with cancer wanted to have my haircut but they couldn't, so I gave myself theirs." Morata married his Italian girlfriend Alice Campello in Venice on 17 June 2017. They have four children: three sons, including twins Alessandro and Leonardo (born 2018), Edoardo (born 2020), and a daughter, Bella (born 2023). In 2018, Morata changed his shirt number at Chelsea from 9 to 29 in honour of the 29 July birthday of his twin sons. Morata announced the couple's separation on August 12, 2024 through an Instagram story. The couple reconciled in January 2025. During Spain's celebrations of their Euro 2024 victory over England, Morata and teammate Rodri were filmed chanting "Gibraltar is Spanish". The chants were labelled "rancid", "discriminatory" and "hugely offensive to Gibraltarians" by the Government of Gibraltar, and led to an official complaint to UEFA by the Gibraltar Government and Gibraltar Football Association. After an investigation was opened on 19 July, Morata and Rodri were formally charged under Article 11 of UEFA on 23 July. The pair were given a one match ban.