Spanish national team captain Alvaro Morata (32, AC Milan) confessed that he suffered from severe depression and anxiety. This is why he moved to Italy, away from Spain.”
In an interview with Spanish radio ‘Herrera Angkope’ on the 11th, Morata opened up about his past of depression and said the best thing to do to solve it was to leave Atletico Madrid, Spain.
Morata made a surprise move to AC Milan after leaving Spain ahead of this season. He explained that this was to get out of depression. Morata said, “When you’re in a really tough moment, like depression or panic attacks, it doesn’t matter what kind of job you have or what kind of situation you’re in. Inside you are another person who has to fight every day and night. In the end, the best thing for me was to leave Spain because the unbearable times had come.”
Morata said, “I had a really tough time. I thought I would never be able to play in the stadium wearing soccer boots again. However, I was able to get back on my feet thanks to the support of Coach Simeone, Koke, Miguel Angel Hill (Atletico CEO), psychiatrist and mental coach. People come across soccer players through TV or SNS, but that is not all that matters. I have to maintain my superficial image many times in my profession.”
“I went through a really tough time, and it completely collapsed. I couldn’t even tie my soccer boots, and after I managed to tie them, I would run home. My throat was clogged and my vision started to get blurry. Three months before the Euros, I wondered if I could play again. I didn’t know what was going on, but it was a very complicated and sensitive issue. That’s when I realized that the thing I love the most in the world became the worst thing at the same time.” 토토사이트
Morata’s confession weighed heavily. He said, “Every time I went out with the kids, something happened. Sometimes unintentionally, people would say this or that about the last game. Eventually, the kids didn’t even want to do anything normal, like going grocery shopping. They said so many bad things in front of me, and I felt ashamed to be with them. I easily became a laughing stock, and people mocked me in front of my kids.”
“At first, I wanted to stay with Atletico. I really wanted to do that, but when I said in an interview, ‘I don’t know if I can continue playing for Spain because of my age or other problems outside of football,’ it made a huge impact. Some people even exaggerated the story. I realized this would not happen in Italy,” he said, explaining why he chose to leave Spain for AC Milan.
Morata, who started playing soccer for Atletico Madrid’s youth team, has played for some of the best prestigious clubs in Europe. After playing for Real Madrid and Juventus, he changed to Chelsea in 2017 after wearing the Real uniform again. Returning to Atletico in 2019 on loan, he wore the Juventus uniform on loan again in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.
Morata, who returned to Atletico for the 2022-23 season, scored 21 goals and four assists in 48 games last season. However, his lackluster performance in the second half pushed him out of the race to become a starting member, much criticism from fans, and he chose to go to Milan in August. Shortly after moving to AC Milan, Morata also announced his divorce from his model-turned-wife, Alice Campello. Morata, who had four children and was considered a parakeet celebrity couple, did not disclose the reason for the divorce at the time.
Morata is a 190-centimeter-tall striker with sharp movements and headers that beat the opponent’s defense. However, he has been evaluated as not very good at determining.
As the captain of the Spanish national team, he won Euro 2024 last summer and was deeply moved as a player, but Morata turned out to have had a difficult time mentally.
