Marco Asensio arrives at the Clásico in need of a boost. The Spaniard was clearly damaged in the match against Shakhtar Donetsk last Wednesday: he started on the right of the attack, his favorite position, but he was not able to break the Ukrainian wall either in the first half or in the second (although after the break he improved ostensibly). He shot twice and gave 42 good passes of 46 (91%), but lost the ball up to 14 times and only recovered two. It ensured the white circulation, but it was not the knife in attack that Madrid needed, although it greatly improved its two attack partners, Rodrygo and Jovic.
It is a little consolation, because Asensio continues looking for his best level and this does not arrive. He is counting on many minutes since he recovered from the injury that left him out of the first two LaLiga games, 236 minutes in four games, and at the moment neither goals nor assists for the Mallorcan. His past course was marked by the serious injury he suffered in preseason, but the delay in the competition due to the coronavirus It allowed him to have minutes and in them he did teach a version closer to what Zidane expects of him: three goals and an assist in 334 minutes after confinement.
Two goals in the Classic
That is the path that Asensio must travel and at this point he lands in a Classic that, in the past, gave him the greatest joys as a Madridista. The 2017 Spanish Super Cup was for the Balearic a point and a separate point in his white career: he signed two goals that were vital in Real Madrid's triumph against Barcelona in that August tournament. First, at the Camp Nou and coming off the bench, a shoe to the squad to culminate a counterattack and certify the 1-3 final.
And already on the return, as a starter, another missile from his left leg with memories of the one who already scored against Sevilla in the 2016 European Super Cup, in Trondheim (Norway). A goal that unleashed the gestures of those who witnessed it: that of Ter Stegen, resigned after making the statue; and that of Zidane, mentally counting with his right hand Asensio's collection of works of art. For the former Majorca, they were his happiest days as a Real Madrid player, those in which he came closest to taking a place as undisputed in the white team.
Asensio's balance against Barcelona
More than three years after that, Asensio appears in the Classic with few options to start from the starting eleven (Vinicius and Benzema aim to be the attacking pair, with four means behind) and with the need to vindicate their figure against a team that, globally, has not been very good: those two goals were their only two victories against him Barcelona, in 14 games. With the Espanyol shirt the Catalans were measured four times: three defeats and a draw. And with the white, to those two wins he adds five defeats and three draws (due to injury, he was not present in the two duels last year: 0-0 at the Camp Nou and 2-0 at the Bernabéu).