HOW VITAL IS THEIR FRONT-LINE COMBO OF CRISTIANO RONALDO AND ALVARO MORATA?
It’s no exaggeration to say that the European ambitions of the Bianconeri will live or die according to the production levels of this outstanding Portuguese-Spanish duo. In the group phase the pair were responsible for ten of the team’s haul of 14 goals – Morata netting six and CR7 delivering four
– and if their round of 16 opponents Porto do not get a handle on them, it will be arrivederci, Dragons.
Morata, who joined Juve from Atletico Madrid last summer on a single-season loan deal, allegedly had a strained relationship with Ronaldo when they were team-mates at Real Madrid a few years ago. However there seems to be no friction now. They are feeding off one another, combining with intelligence and mobility, and not fighting for the same balls. Morata tends to attack the near-post, while Ronaldo ghosts in on the far side. They simply work splendidly together, Morata’s preference for deep runs, perfectly complementing the Ronaldo’s scattergun, move-where-Iplease instincts.
“Morata has turned out to be the ideal twin for Ronaldo,” recently wrote journalist Antonio Barilla in Turin’s La Stampa newspaper. “They are