Asensio, the sniper

Beyond the folkloric (that Spain going to Twitter to do trending topic the term ‘Absence’) and the controversial, that gesture of Marco Asensio to the stands of the Bernabéu interpretable as ordering the fans to leave the forum, there remains an Asensio who has become a peculiar soldier for Ancelotti. He hardly participates in the collective game, nor is he remembered galloping by the band, but he is becoming a specialist: a surgical left-footed shot against Alavés two weeks after that left-footed shot against Granada. Two kills.

With the hole made to the team babazorro Asensio’s goals have been seven this season in the League and he surpasses his most prolific year in Madrid, 2017-18, by one goal (still in February). He is actively looking for it. well it is true that everything could have been left in a grenade exploding under his feet if that suicidal transfer a minute before his goal Pere Pons would have taken advantage of it. But this game is about goals. That is what Asensio has given himself to.

Just look at how he almost tiptoes through the game’s build. Against Alavés he was the one who made the fewest passes in Madrid, with 35, just six more… than Thibaut Courtois. It is not the only thing. He has been ostensibly lowering his average of unchecks per game, from 22 in 2019-20 to 16 in the current one; Other nuances of his game have also fallen, such as facing: his dribbles have been decreasing from 3.3 in 2018-19, to 2.4 last season and 1.8 in the current one.

But what he does not contribute chorally or in actions where Vinicius now takes the cake (dribbling and acceleration), Asensio makes up for it by triggering his left foot. His eight attempts against the Granada goal, an absolute record for him since playing for Madrid, did not find a replica in number against Alavés but in quality. The Majorcan’s two shots against Pacheco were more than enough to also open the can.

“That celebration was left over for Marco, he would have to know that the Bernabéu always demands those who can give more”Antonio Romero said after the game in Carousel. It is not a small thing, because Asensio faces the end of his contract, which ends in 2023. Time to find out if, with Mbappé on the horizon, he can survive in the white squad of the future as a sniper.