Morata wary of eager opponents

Scorer of his team's final goal in their 4-1 triumph over Belgium, Spain forward Álvaro Morata said La Roja's recent successes on the world stage meant he and his team-mates cannot rest easy.

The four-time UEFA European Under-19 Championship winners were pushed hard by a spirited ten-man Belgium side during the teams' rescheduled Group B fixture in Mogosoaia, Florent Cuvelier cancelling out Pablo Sarabia's 15th-minute opener early in the second half.  Subsequent strikes from Paco Alcácer, Juan Muñiz Gallego and Morata ensured Spain ended up comfortable winners but the Real Madrid CF striker believes that things will continue to get harder.   

"It wasn't a surprise to us at all that Belgium played so well and managed to equalise as ," he told UEFA.com. "Teams always want to beat us now knowing that our seniors are [FIFA] World Cup and [UEFA] EURO 2008 holders while our Under-21s are champions of Europe. Against Belgium we saw it again; it was a very difficult game against a solid team. We had to put in a lot of work on the pitch but in the end it was worth it as we got the result."

With interest high whenever Spain take to the field, Morata – scorer of 14 goals in 26 appearances for Real Madrid Castilla last term – explained that the pleasure of pulling on the red jersey outweighed any pressure of expectation to perform. "We don't feel that playing for Spain and trying to emulate the successes at other national levels is a pressure; we see it as a responsibility," he said. "The most beautiful thing in the world for us is to have the opportunity to play for our country."

With a family feel blossoming at their base-camp in Bucharest, Morata explained that under the guidance of coach Ginés Meléndez, himself a three-time winner of this competition, Spain would look for steady improvement. "We know each other well having spent so much time playing together," former Getafe CF youth player Morata said. "The atmosphere within the squad is great. We know the coach really well, we have spent a long time playing under him and we play in the style he likes; we're all very content here."

Next is an encounter with Serbia who also enjoyed an opening-game victory against Turkey and the Madrid marksman insists his team will need to be wary. "We will begin preparation for our next game as soon as possible and we will try to go and win because if we do so it will bring us a step closer to reaching the semi-finals," he said. "Our coach told us that they are a very strong team physically and that we have a very tricky encounter in front us."