Real Madrid defender puts in another encouraging performance despite team’s woes against Liverpool – Analysis | OneFootball

Real Madrid continued their woeful run in the UEFA Champions League last Wednesday as they fell to another defeat against Liverpool. With this loss, the Merengues have now lost 3 of their 5 matches in the UCL League Phase, against Lille, AC Milan, and Liverpool.

As things stand, Los Blancos have only 3 games left to salvage their UCL campaign, as they finished matchday five of League Phase at the 24 position, the last spot for a qualification to the Round of 16, but will have to win a play-off match to actually advance to this stage.

Liverpool have been in very good form, and with the form that Real Madrid have shown up to now, it was not really a surprise to see the Premier League side getting the better of the current champions.

However, with the way Carlo Ancelotti’s team played in this game, there are a lot of question marks about whether the team can actually compete against the European elite this season.

Real Madrid were without several of their stars, including Vinicius Junior, but with the squad that they have, they were still expected to put up a match against the 1st-placed Premier League side.

Furthermore, Kylian Mbappe had a very good chance to step up in the absence of Vinicius and show his coach that he deserves to be the leader of the team’s attack going forward. However, the Frenchman had an absolutely horrendous game, which raised more doubts about his move to Real Madrid.

But the rest of the team was not much better either, as the Merengues remained on the receiving end of Liverpool’s attacks for most part of the game.

However, one player who could have been excused for a poor performance on the night was actually one of the more encouraging players for Los Blancos, i.e., the defender Raul Asencio.

This was the first real test for the recently promoted defender, who has put in some very reliable performances since Eder Militao’s injury in the game against Osasuna. But this game against Liverpool was different, as this was the first time the 21-year-old defender had to face a side as dangerous as the Reds.

Fortunately, the centre-back was one of the few Real Madrid players who could keep their heads high following the final whistle. He made a goal-line clearance in the first half, that kept his team from going down early in the game.

One can argue that he could have done better on Liverpool’s first goal, as he failed to put in an effective block to Mac Allister’s shot that ended up in the goal. But other than that, Asencio made very few mistakes.

Defensively, he made 4 clearances, 1 interception, and 2 tackles, 1 of which was a last-man challenge, in this game, according to Sofascore. Furthermore, he also blocked 1 shot and was dribbled past only once.

He was quite reliable with the ball as well, as, despite Liverpool’s suffocating pressure, he completed all 24 of his attempted passes, thus recording a 100% pass completion rate. He also won 3 of his 4 ground duels and completed his only attempted long pass.

With this performance, Asencio has further showcased his ability to keep playing with the first team. Carlo Ancelotti will be particularly pleased with this performance, as he has no other options for the centre-back position barring Antonio Rudiger.