EXCLUSIVE: The in-form Juventus striker says he is ready to take the opportunity to start for his country after the Chelsea forward was ruled out due to another injury
Juventus striker Alvaro Morata says he is ready to take the responsibility of leading the line for Spain in the absence of the injured Diego Costa .
Costa has played just two international games since joining Chelsea due to a succession of injuries, and will miss the key Euro 2016 qualifier against Ukraine this weekend.
That could hand Morata the chance to start in attack after impressing in the Champions League for the Serie A leaders, and the former Real Madrid forward is ready to take his opportunity.
"I'm ready for whatever comes," he told Goal . "I will face it with the best possible attitude.
"This is football, and it depends on whether the ball wants to go in or not. I can play better or worse, but whenever I play, I give everything I have inside.
"Maybe sometimes even this has betrayed me when I wanted to show too much too quickly, but now I think I don't have to prove anything to anyone."
After a slow start to the season, Morata has scored seven goals in his last 14 games in all competitions and credits compatriot Fernando Llorente for helping him to settle in Turin.
"It's not easy when you change country, culture and [style of] football," he explained. "It was difficult for me. I came to Turin and I got injured, I lost the rhythm I found in training.
"It was a month and a half until my knee stopped hurting, and another month to adapt to my team-mates. But now I'm fully integrated and well physically. It's just the normal process of adaptation.
"Fernando Llorente has been very important for me. He gives me a lot of advice, we talk a lot.
"I will thank Fernando for my entire life, because it's hard to find people like him, especially in the world of football.
"We play in the same position. Sometimes I play, and sometimes he plays, but he has treated me as a friend, and I'll be there for him for whatever he wants.
"Massimiliano Allegri has also given me incredible confidence. The executives, too. I could not be happier at Juventus.
"They have done everything for me when last year I did not score 25 or 30 goals, and I didn't play every game. I wasn't the most important in the [Real Madrid] squad.
"They put blind faith in me and I think I'm paying them back."
Morata admitted that the form of Paul Pogba and Carlos Tevez has been crucial to Juve's success so far this season and tipped the Frenchman to be a future Ballon d'Or contender.
"Those two are among the best players in the world," he enthused. "Tevez played an amazing game [against Borussia Dortmund], like the rest of the team.
"And Pogba, at just 22 years old, with his quality, he is already one of the best players in the world, and he can become someday win the Ballon d'Or. He's an amazing player."
