Marco Asensio and Real Madrid – Potential, Setback and Future

#PausaAnalysis [THREAD]

12 years before Marco Asensio was unveiled at Real Madrid, his parents and he met Real Madrid president Florentino Perez by chance. Perez was relaxing on his yacht when an 8-year-old Asensio posed for a picture with Perez in the background.

Marco’s mother, told Perez confidently that their son would one day play for Real Madrid. On the day of Asensio’s unveiling Perez fondly recounted the memory. A promise fulfilled.

However, Marco’s mother wouldn’t be able to see her son play for Real Madrid. She passed away due to cancer when he was just 15 leaving a mental scar that hurts Asensio to this day.

That’s not the only difficulty Marco has had to overcome. As a child, he had severe growth deficiencies and issues with his knee. Problems that left him only in his teenage years.

Marco trudged on. He had the sort of talent that would make big clubs go crazy after him. And sure enough, by the time he was 18, he had offers from both Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Real Madrid beat Barcelona to his signing after the latter didn’t want to pay a meagre €3m fee outright but in instalments. Real Madrid took advantage of the situation, paid the fee, and Asensio signed for Los Blancos.

Asensio couldn’t have had a better debut for Real Madrid, scoring a goal. At Real Madrid, he scored in every competition debut - La Liga, UCL, Supercups & the Copa del Rey

While his debut season was solid and he did have a good start to his second season, Asensio didn’t set the world on fire like he was expected to. Still, there was hope.

Going into the 2018/2019 season, Real Madrid were wounded by the consecutive blows of first losing Zidane and then Ronaldo. The players’ confidence was shattered. The season was a disaster.

Marco was expected to shoulder some of the attacking responsibility after the loss of Ronaldo. But the pressure of the situation got to him and he looked to deflect responsibility rather than taking it head-on.

At the time Marco was 22, tasked with filling in for Real Madrid’s greatest. At any other club, a player of his age would’ve been given time to get going. But Real Madrid has always been different. Either you’re ready to play or you’re not.

Shunted on the left-wing, Asensio found himself limited. With the team’s disintegrated confidence, it was only going to get harder and Asensio, for the most part, couldn’t handle it with performances ranging from utterly poor to mediocre at best.

Real Madrid’s season ended in disaster. Zidane’s return, however, brought renewed hope. The players would finally play once again for the manager who had done so much for them.

Asensio began the 2019/2020 pre-season with supreme confidence with Zidane looking to make him an important part of the XI. And it showed in his first performance where despite a beating at the hands of Bayern, Asensio was comfortably Real Madrid’s best player.

Against Arsenal in Madrid’s second preseason game, Asensio was unplayable, especially in the second half where he was heavily involved in the first goal and score Real Madrid’s second to complete a comeback.

But in the 58th minute of the game, following a tussle between Arsenal’s Aubameyang and him, Asensio went to the ground clutching his knee in pain. Zidane knew that it was bad almost immediately, covering his face in dismay.

Asensio was diagnosed with an ACL tear. The dreaded injury that has left many potentially great careers in its wake. He was initially not expected to return for the season but the impeding coronavirus meant that he would be able to make it for the final third of the season.

Cleared for the Valencia game, Asensio was brought on by Zidane with 16 minutes to go and Real leading by just 1 goal. Less than a minute after coming on, Asensio fired the first touch off a Mendy cross past Cillessen. Another goal in another “debut”.

Asensio played a role off the bench for the most of the remaining season with Zidane easing him in. He went on to score twice more despite coming off the bench in the remaining few games, looking extremely sharp every time.

Asensio’s whole life has been about overcoming obstacles. From his health issues as a kid to the tragic passing away of his mother to the ACL injury. He’s faced it and found a way back through it all.

Now comes the hardest phase of his career. He must have the season of his life if he wants to cement a spot in this deep Real Madrid roster that will only getter deeper next season.

There’s no chance for him to shirk responsibilities this time. At nearly 25, he has much younger players breathing down his neck; hoping to grasp on to that one spot in attack. So where does Asensio fit in Zidane’s plans?

Asensio started off as an AM with an eye for goal. He’s an extremely intelligent player and though he has flair, he often makes calculated decisions over risky ones. His passing is excellent & in typical Spanish style he thrives off one-twos and quick releases into space.

While he isn’t a prototypical winger & since Zidane’s system only employs an AM sporadically to fit in Isco, Asensio will have to play on the wings. Asensio prefers to play on the right-wing and that’s where his best performances have come from.

It essentially allows him to drift into central areas of the pitch to create chances or to cut in and shoot with his preferred left foot.

With the left-wing covered by the signings of Vinicius Jr and then Hazard, Asensio’s competition on the right is Rodrygo who’s only just being integrated on the right and will take time to really get going.

Everything points to Marco playing a more prominent role for Real Madrid this season. And with Madrid looking to retain the title, they will be hoping for Asensio to weaponise that left foot and score a little more often and take on a leader’s responsibility.

[END OF THREAD]