Morata is on the verge of matching Fernando Torres, with Samu waiting in the wings

In a window where there is no Atlético player among the 26 called up by Luis de la Fuente, two forwards who were once colchoneros and another who seemed destined to lead the rojiblanco attack mark the current affairs of the Spanish national team. The matches against Denmark and Switzerland, with which Spain will close the group stage of the Nations League, could allow Álvaro Morata to equal or even surpass the 38-goal mark that makes Fernando Torres the third highest scorer in La Roja's history. The current Milan striker, who has scored 37 goals in 82 international matches, sponsors the rise of Samu Omorodion to the senior team, who was to be his replacement under Cholo Simeone but ended up scoring in Porto. With the Madrid-born player nursing a head injury from the previous week, the Melilla-born dragon awaits his moment.

Morata has started in 19 of the 25 matches that make up Luis de la Fuente's tenure as coach of the Spanish national team. He missed two due to injury, was an unused substitute in two others, and came off the bench in the remaining two. Only Rodri and Laporte have started as many times under De la Fuente as Morata, captain and leader in the attack of a team that has gone 14 consecutive matches without losing since the setback in the friendly against Colombia in March and has 19 official matches unbeaten. This is why the clash with his teammate Pavlovic during a Milan training session raised alarms last week. However, De la Fuente included him in the squad the next day and clarified that he can use him without restrictions. "He has no problem. We have to follow a protocol, but under normal conditions, he will be ready to play the first match, and if not, the second for sure," he stated.

De la Fuente's call-up is another sign of the trust the coach places in a player who has been questioned by fans but is highly valued within the team. "He is a great example of everything," the coach highlighted about Morata on the eve of the Euro 2020 semifinal against France. A tournament in which the Madrid-born player only scored in the opener against Croatia but which served to strengthen him.

He lifted the trophy as the herald of a team that amazed and, after serving a one-match ban for chanting "Gibraltar español" during celebrations and missing another due to injury, returned to the scene in October, scoring against Serbia the goal that allows him to approach the historical podium of Spanish scorers. He averages a goal every 138 minutes as an international, a statistic that surpasses Fernando Torres' record (one every 160 minutes) and Raúl's (one every 172 minutes), although not David Villa's, who needed an average of 106.6 minutes to score each of his 59 goals, keeping him at the top of the ranking.

It will not be Joselu this time who backs up Morata but Samu, a bet on the future but also the present. "Samu is a boy, 20 years old, who has football potential and has burst onto the Portuguese football scene in a way that has caught attention. All this must be maintained over time. We give him the opportunity to show that potential, and now it depends on him," De la Fuente said after releasing a list in which the Porto striker managed to make his way.

He was close to being called up in October, but then the coach preferred to keep Joselu and let Samu continue developing with the under-21s. His four goals against Malta and the impressive scoring pace he has set at Porto (12 goals in 13 matches) have convinced De la Fuente that the Nigerian-born striker is ready.

An opportunity that comes to Samu just over two months after his signing for Porto closed a turbulent summer in which he went from being a rojiblanco hope to a reality for the 'tripeiro' team, with a near move to Chelsea. He was to be a bargaining chip in the deal that brought Conor Gallagher to the Metropolitano, but the signing of the Paris gold medalist by the 'blues' ended up falling through, much to the delight of Porto fans, who now enjoy his scoring prowess. By then, all bridges between Samu and Atlético had been burned.

The striker was unclear about his role with Simeone, so on June 28, he sent a message to the rojiblanco club requesting to leave, preferably heading to the Premier League. An 'affront' that Cholo neither forgave nor forgot. "It was clear that he didn't want to be at Atlético," the Argentine stated before the league match against Leganés. Time will tell if Atlético lost a long-term diamond, but De la Fuente wants to polish him within a team that has a splendid present and a bright future.