When Juventus hosted Hellas Verona last Sunday, all eyes were on Dusan Vlahovic.

The Serbian was making his debut for his new club after completing the biggest switch of the whole January transfer session.

The former Fiorentina man wasn’t going to miss his date with destiny. Just thirteen minutes into the clash, he broke the deadlock with a fabulous chip.

With Vlahovic announcing himself on the scene, Alvaro Morata was to fade away in the shadow of his younger, stronger and more prolific teammate.

And yet, after 83 minutes of action, the Spaniard left the pitch to a resounding standing ovation from the Allianz crowds.

Despite not scoring a goal (nor even trying for that matter), the 29-year-old produced what can arguably be described as his best performance this season… by far.

With the responsibility of leading the line and scoring goals lifted off his shoulders, the relived player enjoyed trotting up and down the left flank while creating one chance after the other for his teammates, including a wonderful assist for Denis Zakaria’s goal.

Simply put, Morata looked as if he belonged in that role all along. Even when he had the chance to go for the goal himself, he preferred to act as the generous older brother, and pass it to Vlahovic.

Which brings us to the main question: Has Alvaro’s characteristics been misunderstood by his recurring managers?

Throughout his storied career, the Spain international served under the guidance of the who’s who of football coaches. We’re talking about the likes of José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte, Zinedine Zidane, Diego Simeone, Luis Enrique and of course Max Allegri.

So did the latter finally solve the mystery of the misfiring center forward? Has the clue for the answer always been hidden in the question?

Perhaps Morata should have never been a number 9 in the first place. Maybe the fact that he scored goals was simply an additional virtue to his game that mislead some of the managers in the world to believe that he’s supposed to be leading the frontline.

What if he was always meant to play as a supporting striker, but the fact has eclipsed us all for almost an entire decade, only to be discovered by Allegri… potentially by coincidence.

In any case, it’s still too early to build assumptions based on one performance (no matter how good it was), but if the days prove Allegri’s vision to be correct, then Morata should be considered one of the most misunderstood players of his generation.