Real Madrid: 5 biggest questions as attack sputters vs. Osasuna

Why did Marco Asensio start at RW?

For the first time this season, Carlo Ancelotti started Marco Asensio as a right winger, even though he had already said he was turning the player into a midfielder.   

Asensio’s best match in years came in an attacking midfield role against Mallorca, as he scored a hat-trick against his former club as part of a six-goal display from Los Blancos. Since then, Asensio has not contributed to another goal. His only other start came against Villarreal, and he was woeful in that attacking midfield role against an Unai Emery-coached side that can actually defend competently.

Osasuna have been one of the best defensive teams in LaLiga this season, and they had zero trouble stifling Asensio. The Andalusian attacker did absolutely nothing on the ball. He caused no threat with the ball at his feet and could not get into any sort of a threatening position with the ball. While Asensio tried to get into the six-yard box, he often ran into spaces where a cross could not have possibly come, showing that he still doesn’t understand the skill of interpreting goal-scoring spaces.

I bring these two points up, because you have to be good at one of them in order to start for Real Madrid in a forward role. Vinicius Junior, for example, is excellent at winning one-on-ones. Gareth Bale, for example, is excellent at reading the game and getting into goal-scoring situations within the penalty box, which makes up for his declining one-on-one ability.

But Asensio struggles in the aspects that would make someone a good inverted winger. I understand that Ancelotti wants to give Asensio opportunities for morale purposes and for transfer value purposes (football is cynical, after all), but Asensio has already shown he cannot succeed in this role. And Real Madrid cannot effectively attack when one of their forwards plays as poorly as Asensio does against teams that plug up all of their gaps defensively.