Saturday’s Champions League final will have many intriguing mini-matches and sub plots. One of those will be two strikers – one on either side – coming up against their former employers
Under different circumstances, Juventus’ Gonzalo Higuain and Alvaro Morata of Real Madrid could have been facing each other on different sides of the Turin-Madrid divide during Saturday’s Champions League final, but instead could now come back to haunt their former clubs.
The duo did in fact spend three years together with Los Blancos at the start of the decade, before the lavish spending on attacking talent by the Spanish giants inevitably led to their departures from the capital.
June 2013 saw Napoli pay some €40 million to win the race for the much sought after Argentine hitman, before the Bianconeri signed the promising Spanish youngster a year later for €20m.
His sale to the Old Lady back in 2014 has already bitten Los Merengues quite hard when, as reigning European champions in 2015, the 24-year-old netted in both legs of the semi-final to end their defence of the trophy.
That arguably convinced Real he was worthy of a second chance in Madrid, activating a €30 million buy-back clause last summer, however, with Karim Benzema set to start in Wales, any pain the striker inflicts upon Juventus will come from the bench.
Morata’s exit prompted the Bianconeri to steal the jewel in the Partenopei crown, but given the invaluable experience gained in Turin and rumours he is surplus-to-requirements once more with Los Blancos, bitterness will not be driving the Spaniard to inflict Champions League heartache on his former teammates.
Higuain on the other hand, has every reason to want to show Real Madrid and their supporters just what they have been missing went the two meet at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.
Despite helping the club to three La Liga titles, a Copa del Rey and netting over 100 times in the famous shirt, the South American never really received the respect he was due from fans or confidence of those that coached him.
The same age, and arguably equal talent, as Benzema, the Frenchman was consistently ahead of Higuain in the pecking order at the Bernabeu after arriving in 2009, and ultimately took the 29-year-old’s exit to receive equal status with European pundits.
Never regarded as the man that could fire Real Madrid to further success at home or abroad, this surely still grates with Higuain ahead of the final and will add fire to his own desire of a first European success.
Pipita never cuts the figure of a natural athlete and the perception that carries a little too much weight for a top-level striker has regularly been used to discount his ability.
Former Los Merengues star Robert Prosinecki referred to Higuain as a ‘little pig’ at the beginning of the current campaign, for which he has responded with a feast of goals in the Bianconeri shirt – 32 in 54 appearances this season.
If Real Madrid disregard the ex-River Plate striker on Saturday in the same way they did when they allowed him to leave with his peak years in front of him, it could be at the cost of a 12th European Cup in the trophy cabinet.
Juventus on the other hand, will just be hoping that Morata’s biggest contribution to the Bianconeri story is not the role of villain when denying them a wonderful and we’ll deserved first treble success in the club’s history.
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Source: forzaitalianfootball.com