Champions League goal is further evidence of Alvaro Morata magic

Juventus’ slender 2-1 Champions League last 16 lead over Borussia Dortmund is largely thanks to reported £15m summer signing Alvaro Morata.

Coral recently brought punters news of Liverpool being linked with the Spain striker and, now that he has proved he can perform on a major senior stage like Europe’s elite club competition, his stock should continue to rise.

Carlos Tevez profited from Borussia Dortmund stopper Roman Weidenfeller spilling Morata’s shot to grab the opener before scoring himself, after Marco Reus had quickly restored parity.

Impressive stats of two Champions League goals in four career starts indicate, no pun intended, Morata is the real deal. It’s a similar story when Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri has named the player in his XI domestically.

On six occasions when Morata has played the full 90 minutes in Serie A and the Coppa Italia, his return is four strikes. To put that in some perspective, Mario Balotelli cost Liverpool a similar amount of cash (£16m), but scored a sole goal from as many outings when the enigmatic Italian has got a full game under his belt.

Morata is thus making a huge case to no longer be benched behind Basque target man Fernando Llorente, who admittedly brings very different qualities to his fellow Spaniard.

Carlos Tevez, the Old Lady’s leading marksman with a hugely impressive 20 from 30 appearances across all competitions, is an automatic first-choice option for Allegri, leaving the only question being who partners him?

Under their current coach, Juventus have moved away from the 3-5-2 set-up used by predecessor Antonio Conte to a midfield diamond, but some similarities, namely width provided by the full backs, remain.

Former tactics certainly favoured Llorente more, as Stephan Lichtsteiner and Kwadwo Asamoah (since injured and replaced in Juve’s line-up by ex-Manchester United defender Patrice Evra) could play with more abandon out wide.