Marco Asensio said this week in an interview for the Spanish TV broadcaster Movistar that he cannot be blame by the situation of the club because there are other players with a higher status who should be leading the group. At his 22 years old, he is denying the star status gained in the last season with his great performance. Is he right or wrong?
It’s absolutely true that Asensio is not the highest earner in Real Madrid squad and he has not been shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or award. Therefore, he cannot be considered one of the Real Madrid stars, but the club and the fans have put on him many expectations and he is not replying to them, perhaps for this lack of ambition showed in his speech. After many opportunities with Julen Lopetegui, Solari has decided to put him on the bench due to his performances. There are no excuses: only 2 goals this season in 17 games in all competitions.
Real Madrid didn’t sign a star in his position because they believed in Asenio’s skills and didn’t want to block his development. Eden Hazard, one of the best players of the last World Cup, said several times that he wanted join Los Blancos. The Belgian playmaker has similar characteristics to Asensio, so his signing was dismissed. Besides, when Cristiano Ronaldo was sold, the bosses believed that Marco Asensio could take more responsibility and play in the attacking line with freedom, arriving more to the goal.
However, we haven’t seen this so far this season. Asensio started the last games on the bench, and even didn’t have minutes in the last Champions League clash against Viktoria Plzen. Now he might be complaining about his situation, but the only person to be blamed is himself, and not Solari. Same situation for his pal, Isco Alarcon, disappeared after his surgery.
Marco Asensio shone in the last season with stunning performances. He scored a brilliant goal in the European Supercup against Sevilla and two more goals in El Clasico in the Spanish Supercup. Besides, against Bayern Munich or Juventus, in the Champions League final stages, he shocked the world with amazing performances. All this has gone, by now. He should sit and think how to improve because opportunities at Real Madrid only happen once. Then, the train is gone and he will miss it.
