Red like Spain’s shirt, tomatoes dominate the Morata fruit shop the day after the national team achieved their place in the quarterfinals of the European Championship. “We had planned to make special offers and we have to comply,” says Lorena Alonso, asking David Cadenas to lend her a hand to put up the poster, made by hand, like those of a lifetime. “We followed the match in Spain on the radio and the references to Morata from the clientele were continuous. At the beginning, along the lines of: ‘oh my, again it doesn’t mark’; ‘With this kid there is no way’. In the end, already in another plan: ‘finally !; ‘Luckily, it was about time! ”, Details the owner of the business.
Lorena confesses that she is not a football fan at all, but “I do follow all the matches in Spain, I like it when the national team plays.” And that does not hide the fact that, until a few days ago, he did not really know who Álvaro Morata was. “I explained it to him a bit quickly and I showed him photos,” intervenes David, one of his three children, to give his mother a background at the time they took over what is now the fourth greengrocer that owns this family between Gijón and Oviedo. They inherited the name and were hesitant to keep it. The evolution of events has led them to nail that of “Morata and ten more” pronounced by Luis Enrique a few days ago. “After nine days, we didn’t even consider that the business could be called something else. Morata has come to stay, as in the national team ”, they say.
The presence of Luis Enrique at the head of the national team is also making Gijón live the Euro Cup in a special way. “It is the first time that being in the business I see people passing by watching a soccer game on their mobile. I think the follow-up is being greater than on other occasions ”, values Lorena Alonso, accomplice of the carousel of emotions of the match against the Croats, shared from the counter. “In a few minutes we went from euphoria to sadness over the draw. And there Morata was, it was not just any goal ”, he finishes off on the fourth and decisive goal, in extra time, by the Madrid striker before the final by Oyarzabal (5-3).
There is no search for fame at the expense of the Spanish striker by this Asturian family, they say. Everything has been, as they explain, the result of chance. “We do not know why the previous owner called the greengrocer that, we only have evidence that the business had been closed for about three months. In the previous premises that we run, we also usually keep their previous name. Here we have been fortunate that, among some things and others, in these first days we have seen sales grow little by little ”, they explain.
Optimism in business is also reflected when analyzing the immediate future of Spain in the European Championship. “It is better for us to cross with Switzerland than with France. We, at least, we celebrate that too. Along with Morata’s goal, of course! ”Concludes David Cadenas.
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