[Sport] Asensio lets the train escape: no dribbling or shooting in the derby, two goals in 1,900 minutes ...

[SougarLord]

 

It is no news that Marco Asensio's career went awry on July 24, 2019. That day, in a fight with Aubameyang in the second half of a friendly between Real Madrid and Arsenal, the Spaniard crashed. He suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and external meniscus in his left knee and today, 15 months later, he still has not recovered. His leg has a scar, but so does his football. You have to mark an 'X' on that afternoon in Washington to understand the current situation of the most promising footballer that Madrid has had in recent years.

 

He was 23 and his market value had just reached € 90 million a few months earlier, according to Transfermarkt. A higher price than Rashford, Ansu Fati, De Ligt, or Kai Havertz are now valued, the same as Lukaku or Oblak and ten less than Joao Félix or Jadon Sancho. World superstar price.

 

He spent time, spent the rehabilitation of the injury, spent his turn and spent the settlement of him in the starting lineup of Zinedine Zidane. And now Marco Asensio is 25 years old, he is valued at 35 million euros, he adds a goal or an assist every 474 minutes and his star has stopped shining like he used to. He is the 11th with the highest market value in Madrid, the 18th in Spain, the 35th in the League and the 172nd in the world. There are no longer impossible goals for Ter Stegen's squad at the Camp Nou, or in Munich in the Champions semi-finals, or at the Bernabéu against Bayern to finalize the extension of a few quarters, or a rocket against Sevilla to reach the Super Cup , or even in a European Cup final, such as Juventus in Cardiff in his first season in white.

 

THE PATIENCE AND THE ILLUSION OF MADRID

Washington's 'X' changed the future of the Balearic Islands and upset Madrid's plans, which had been counting on him to make a trio with Hazard and Benzema since the Belgian's arrival. The club still trusts him, he has had and wants to be patient in that he will recover his level and he has made it known, but at the Bernabéu it is admitted that the title in the attack is not going to be so cheap. The hornet's nest will move and although in Chamartín they have been dreaming of seeing Asensio as a star of the team and the national team for years, reality does not wait for anyone. Zidane has insisted on him and he has responded at times, more with symptoms than with regularity, but he has ended up lost in his own fear of him.

 

In the derby, Asensio did not dribble or shoot and was the Madrid player with the fewest touches of the ball: 31. Even Courtois participated more (40). Not a foul or a tackle, a bad control, a loss, 76% pass and 6.21 average mark, according to the WhoScored website. The third lowest of the team.

 

In this League, he makes a shot on goal per game, for the 1.8 he averaged in 2017, and gives 0.8 key passes per game compared to the 1.6 of that season. That year he reached 11 goals and 6 assists, records with which he deluded the fans, the board and the coaching staff. He came back well from injury, with three goals, but 20-21 is not being his season.

 

THE INJURIES OF HAZARD AND BENZEMA

Until Rodrygo's injury against Granada in December, Asensio had played 20 games, 8 of them as a starter. 844 minutes in which he had neither scored nor assisted, but which were justified in his recovery. After the loss of the young Brazilian, Zidane has granted the Balearic all possible titles and the footballer has only left moments. 1,004 minutes, 2 goals and an assist. He scored against Celta and Levante, shone against Huesca and faded until the derby. And the summary of his productivity in the 1,900 minutes that he has played takes him further every day from the calls of a demanding Luis Enrique.

 

Neither with Hazard's injury nor with Benzema's loss has he been seen to be more participatory, more incisive, more vertical, more than he was before the injury, and that is missed by Madrid. He has not played an entire game for a month and in the last two games Zidane has changed him at the time of the match to give the team more rhythm, with good reason. Vinicius, with his defects, has been more electric and courageous in his interventions.

 

Now Hazard, owner of the left wing, will return and Rodrygo will press on the right. The Madrid train accelerates and we will see if Asensio clings to it.