Alvaro Morata relieved with winning goal as Spain qualify for 2022 World Cup

SEVILLE, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 14: Alvaro Morata of Spain celebrates after scoring their side's first goal during the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier match between Spain and Sweden at Estadio de La Cartuja on November 14, 2021 in Seville, . (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

Alvaro Morata cut a relieved figure after Spain sealed qualification to the 2022 World Cup.

Spain sealed direct qualification to the World Cup thanks to two wins from two in their final games.

Wins over Greece and Spain got the job done, and Morata scored the winner in the second of those, although La Roja did only need a point to progress.

The results were hugely significant for both La Roja and Luis Enrique given it looked for some time as though they might be forced to go through the playoffs to reach the World Cup.

But all’s well that ends well, as they say, and for Morata, it certainly ended well, scoring the winning goal to send his country to yet another World Cup.

“An incredible feeling,” he said after the game, as cited by Marca. “We have worked so much to achieve this objective. We have had bad moments together, but it’s great news.

“Qatar is where we had to be. Though, you don’t have to celebrate more than necessary. Spain has to be all the World Cups.”

Morata also spoke about the game itself and his goal, which should have been a tap-in after Dani Olmo hit the bar from range, but a poor first touch made things more difficult, and from there, he pulled off a neat dinked effort.

He said: “Any game is difficult, all the teams work very hard and defend well.

“In this stadium, we were quite poor in the Euros and because of that, this is something special.

“I knew that I was going to have another opportunity.

“One I hit out of the stadium and the other, I made it more difficult and put it in.”