Marco Asensio let Julen Lopetegui down at Real Madrid
By Ryan Plant
When Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus in the summer, club president Florentino Pérez chose to not sign a Galáctico replacement. Instead, he left Julen Lopetegui to trust Marco Asensio and fit-again Gareth Bale alongside Karim Benzema, but the Spaniard has flattered to deceive.
The 22-year-old even dyed the tips of his hair blonde earlier this season in an attempt to imitate the Portuguese, in the absence of a superstar signing, but one La Liga goal this season so far is not good enough.
In an interview with MARCA, he admitted: “It is not for me to lead from the front. There are other players that have been at the club for longer, they are more experienced, have a higher status and it is down to them.”
Teenager Vinícius Júnior was signed to large fanfare from Flamengo of Brazil, and lauded as the long-term replacement for Ronaldo. The present, whilst the youngster honed his skills with Castilla, was supposed to be Asensio but the Brazilian looks set to be a regular under Santiago Solari.
Whilst youngsters Sergio Reguilón, Federico Valverde and the like are also making their breakthroughs, Asensio has to become a senior player – he has played over 100 games in the white of Real, after all.
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In November 2014, he was signed from Real Mallorca before joining RCD Espanyol on loan for the 2015-16 season – he was projected to have a bright future at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium from the outset.
His first competitive appearance on his return to Spain’s capital was the 2016 UEFA Super Cup final against Sevilla – he scored a stunning 25-yard effort as Real ran out 3-2 winners.
He played 23 times during the season, and struck in the 2017 UEFA Champions League final win against Juventus.
He scored his first goal of the 2017-18 campaign with a 25-yard strike against Barcelona at the Camp Nou in the first leg of the Supercopa de España, before netting an equally-as-impressive effort in the return leg as Zinedine Zidane’s side ran out 5-1 aggregate winners.
After signing a contract extension until 2023 last season, and with the departure of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo, Lopetegui needed him to make the transition from a superstar in waiting to a player with responsibilities on his shoulders – he did not.
He, and Real, started the season well. Assists against Getafe and CD Leganés as well as a goal against Espanyol came during a decent start to the campaign, but he was found wanting during a spell of five winless games in which Marcelo’s consolation against Levante avoided a club-record goal drought.
This means that he has not scored since the 22 of September, and his last assist came three weeks before.
18-year-old Vinícius scored four goals for Castilla under Solari, including a free-kick against Celta Vigo B, and has moved into the first-team squad under the Argentine.
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He found the net against Real Valladolid with a deflected effort to put Los Blancos ahead after 83 minutes. Despite the fortuitousness of the goal, he showed his ability to change a game at a moment’s notice – Asensio has previously been able to, but has struggled this season.
This time last year, he had already scored four La Liga goals, including a brace against Valencia.
This campaign, he has made less key passes (1.2) per 90 minutes compared to last season (1.6), maintained a lower pass success percentage by over 2% less at 88.1% and been caught offside 0.3 more times per game.
The changes are subtle, but become the difference between one point and three when games are deadlocked at 0-0. Perhaps, the promotion of Vinícius will encourage him to deliver – Real fans, and Solari, will certainly hope so; he is definitely capable.