Alvaro Morata has explained how his Chelsea teammate did not trust his ability and admitted it drove him ‘crazy’.
The 27-year-old is halfway through an 18-month loan spell in the Spanish capital after joining from the Blues in January, where he endured a frustrating spell.
The Spain international striker moved to West London in the summer of 2017 from Real Madrid in a reported €65m deal but failed to hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge.
Morata is currently enjoying a strong run of goalscoring form in a goal-shy Atleti team – he has netted in each of his last six matches.
The former Juventus striker has netted 11 goals in 25 outings in La Liga across the calendar year and has established himself as the main striker in Diego Simeone’s side.
“Now that I’m at Atletico I am happy, but before I had stopped enjoying football,” Morata told Cadena Cope’s El Partidazo show, as cited by Marca.
“That was because when I was in England, sometimes I got the feeling that my teammates were looking at me and thinking I would not do anything good; it was driving me crazy – it was a bad time for me.
“There have been times when I have been very angry after games, when I have smashed my phone against the wall because I haven’t been playing well.
“It was times when I had hurt my back, then I had played but felt the pain and it was frustrating.”
