- Planet Sport writer
- 23 April 2023
La Liga wrap: Real Madrid see off Celta Vigo to close the gap on Barcelona
Real Madrid temporarily moved to within eight points of La Liga leaders Barcelona with a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Marco Asensio is a Spanish soccer player who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for Real Madrid. Previously, Asensio played for Mallorca and he has also had a loan stint at Espanyol. Asensio also plays for the Spanish national team.
Asensio has been widely regarded as one of the most talented young players in Spanish soccer and has won a host of honours with Real Madrid.
Marco Asensio and Real Madrid
Marco Asensio of Real Madrid
Asensio was scouted by Real Madrid and Barcelona during his time at RCD Mallorca as a teenager. In November 2014, when Asensio was 18 years of age, Mallorca and Real Madrid reached an agreement for his services. The deal was announced officially on December 5, with Asensio signing a six-year contract for a reported fee of €3.9million ($4.7million). He went on loan to Mallorca for the remainder of the 2014/15 season.
Asensio was a Real Madrid supporter as a child and tennis star Rafael Nadal was reportedly instrumental in his transfer to Los Blancos.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez told Spanish radio station Onda Cero: "I called Rafa Nadal and asked him to talk to his uncle Miguel Angel, who was Mallorca's sports director.
"[I told Nadal] to tell him that we wanted to buy him [Asensio].
"He behaved perfectly and we closed the deal quickly."
In 2015/16, Asensio began to turn heads within Spanish soccer while on loan at Espanyol. He was a key creative influence in the Espanyol side and also scored four goals for them in La Liga.
Off the back of his successful loan spell at Espanyol, Asensio became a regular for Real Madrid in 2016/17.
Under the guidance of Zinedine Zidane, he made 38 appearances in all competitions, scoring 10 goals. One of those was the last in the UEFA Champions League final, which saw Real Madrid beat Juventus 4-1.
Los Blancos enjoyed a tremendously successful season, also winning La Liga and the FIFA Club World Cup.
In 2017/18, Asensio's involvement in the team increased as he played 53 matches, scoring 11 goals. He scored stunning strikes in both legs of Real Madrid's 5-1 Supercopa de Espana aggregate triumph over Barcelona. The team defended their FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Champions League titles. In the latter tournament, they beat Liverpool 3-1 in a fiercely contested final. However, they lost their La Liga crown to Barcelona. Zinedine Zidane stepped down as manager at the end of the season.
Asensio signed a contract extension in 2017, committing himself to Real Madrid for six years.
In 2018/19, Real Madrid endured a difficult start to the campaign under Julen Lopetegui and then Santiago Solari. Zidane returned as manager in March 2019, but Barcelona won La Liga and Real Madrid had already been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League.
Asensio made 44 appearances over the course of the season, scoring six goals. He and Real Madrid were at least able to lift the Club World Cup.
In 2019/20, Real Madrid regained the La Liga title under Zidane, but Asensio missed almost all of the season after tearing his ACL in a preseason match against Arsenal.
However, Asensio was still able to play his part in the title run-in thanks to the postponement of the final stages of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After an 11-month injury layoff, Asensio returned in a La Liga match against Valencia on June 18, 2020. He scored with his first touch just 31 seconds after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Asensio scored further La Liga goals in 2019/20 against Alaves and Leganes, but it took him some time before he scored again. In fact, he only netted on his 15th appearance of the 2020/21 season, scoring in a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo on January 2, 2021.
Asensio's international career
Marco Asensio in action for Spain
Asensio was eligible to play for Spain or the Netherlands, being of Dutch and Spanish descent. He turned down the advances of the Royal Dutch Football Association, opting to play for Spain.
Asensio was a regular for Spain at youth level and was part of the side which won the 2015 U-19 UEFA European Championship in Greece. He scored both goals in a 2-0 semi-final victory over France and Spain went on to beat Russia 2-0 in the final.
On May 29, 2016, Asensio made his debut for the Spain senior national team, starting in a 3-1 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina at the AFG Arena in Switzerland. He had received his first national team call-up 12 days earlier along with goalkeeper Pau Lopez.
At the 2017 U-21 European Championship in Poland, Asensio scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Macedonia. He and Spain reached the final, where they were beaten 1-0 by Germany.
Asensio made Julen Lopetegui's squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and made brief appearances against Iran and Morocco before playing 104 minutes in Spain's round-of-16 defeat to Russia.
Asensio scored his first goal for Spain on September 11, 2018 in a 6-0 UEFA Nations League drubbing of Croatia.
Personal life
Asensio comes from a strong soccer-playing family with his father and older brother having played the game.
Asensio is dating architecture graduate Sandra Garal. It was reported in August 2020 that his ex-girlfriend, Marina Muntaner, had started dating Luca Zidane - the son of Zinedine Zidane, Asensio's boss at Real Madrid.
Reported net worth
It is unknown precisely what Asensio's net worth is, but AS reported that the six-year contract extension he signed with Real Madrid in 2017 included a release clause of €500million.
