21-year-old defender continues to shine despite getting limited opportunities with Real Madrid | OneFootball

Even though their results have stabilised to a large extent in the last few weeks, Real Madrid had to endure a quite difficult start to this season.

There were some glaring issues in the team’s performance on the pitch, and injuries also did not help Carlo Ancelotti as the Merengues saw several of their important players develop some serious physical issues.

The area where these injuries had the most drastic impact was clearly the defence, as both Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao suffered long-term injuries, while David Alaba has still not returned from his ACL tear that he suffered last year.

Furthermore, Ferland Mendy and Aurelien Tchouameni – who has frequently functioned as a centre-back this season – also developed some minor issues, bringing more misery for the Merengues in this area of the team. There was a point when Ancelotti had only Antonio Rudiger as his available centre-back option.

In such a scenario, the Real Madrid head coach decided to rely on a young defender from the academy, i.e., Raul Asencio. The Spaniard exceeded expectations whenever he was called up to play with the first-team this season.

Still, Ancelotti decided to revert back to his more trusted and experienced player, Aurelien Tchouameni, once he was back from injury, and opportunities rather dried up for Asencio in the last weeks of 2024.

However, he got back into the starting lineup in the Copa del Rey game against Deportivo Minera and was once again impressive as Sofascore statistics show that he made 2 clearances, 1 interception, and 3 tackles in a game that was utterly dominated by Real Madrid. He also recorded a 98% passing accuracy, missing only 1 of his 60 attempted passes.

Following that performance, he once again got an opportunity to showcase his skills against a more difficult Mallorca side in the Spanish Super Cup. Although he was not a starter, he still got significant time to play in this game as Aurelien Tchouameni had to leave the pitch early in the second half with a physical issue, and Asencio took his place in the centre of the backline.

The defender once again showed his tenacity and defensive awareness which are already emerging as his most notable characteristics. In this game, he made 2 interceptions and 2 tackles and also won both of the 2 duels that he participated in.

His passing was also once again top-notch, as he registered a 96% success rate by completing 25 of his 26 attempted passes. He also gave 3 accurate long passes in this game.

He was also in the spotlight at the end of the game, when a brawl erupted between the players of the two teams. While such scenes are not really good for football in general, most Real Madrid fans would still have loved how Asencio stood up for the team and faced the Mallorca defender Maffeo head on following his provocations that endured throughout the night.