Mikel Oyarzabal scored in Morata\u2019s absence before De la Fuente brought him on for the Basque striker in extra time.<\/p>\n
De la Fuente\u2019s call was motivated by having Morata on the field if the game went to penalties which was how it turned out in Munich.<\/p>\n
Morata\u2019s spot kick was saved by Diogo Costa \u2013 in the only miss at the Allianz Arena \u2013 as Spain\u2019s Nations League defence ended.<\/p>\n
De la Fuente backs Morata as Spain captain<\/h2>\n
After taking the senior job in February 2023, De la Fuente immediately installed Morata as captain, and he led the team to glory in the UEFA Euro 2024 final over England.<\/p>\n
His lack of recent prominence is not an issue for the manager who is confident over his experienced frontman.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a leader and especially important for us, regardless of whether he plays more or less. He\u2019s the best leader,\u201d as per quotes from\u00a0Marca<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has lots of football left in him and will have some very important moments with us. He contributes a lot behind the scenes, away from the spotlight. I attach great importance to that.\u201d<\/p>\n De la Fuente reiterated that message after Morata\u2019s miss but the striker admitted he could step away from the national team in future.<\/p>\n Morata spoke candidly about what could happen next in his international career ahead of two 2026 World Cup qualifiers on the horizon in September.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel bad for my teammates, but it\u2019s part of life. I thank the coach for his words. The penalty? I didn\u2019t take it well, I could have done better, but there\u2019s nothing I can do now,\u201d as per Diario AS<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cRetirement from the national team? It\u2019s possible, I won\u2019t be back in September.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The post Alvaro Morata admits Spain retirement decision after penalty miss<\/a> appeared first on Football Espa\u00f1a<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spain national team captain Alvaro Morata has admitted he faces a huge call over his future with La Roja in 2025. Luis de la Fuente again opted to start him on the bench in Spain\u2019s UEFA Nations League final defeat to Portugal. Mikel Oyarzabal scored in Morata\u2019s absence before De […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2010"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2013,"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions\/2013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Alvaro](\"http:\/\/www.albluesguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Alvaro-Morata-scaled.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nIs Morata retiring from Spain duty?<\/h2>\n