Asensio’s brilliance leaves Barca wondering what might have been
BARCELONA: Barcelona were given a painful reminder of what they missed out on by failing to sign Marco Asensio after the Spanish youngster’s longrange strike set Real Madrid on their way to a 2-0 win over the Catalans on Wednesday to seal the Spanish Super Cup.
The Spain Under-21 international had the Santiago Bernabeu crowd screaming with delight after his stunning goal in the fourth minute, adding to his 90th minute thunderbolt which had sealed a 3-1 win for Real in the first leg at the Nou Camp.
Karim Benzema added a second shortly before halftime to give Real a 5-1 aggregate win, which was richly deserved and led Barca defender Gerard Pique to declare he felt inferior to Real for the first time in 10 years.
Asensio’s contribution to Real’s dominance over the two legs was even more painful for Barca as they had let the former Mallorca forward slip from their grasp three years ago, according to the Spaniard’s agent Horacio Gaggioli.
Gaggioli said in an interview with website Bleacher Report that in 2014 Barca refused to pay the 4.5million euros Mallorca were asking for Asensio up front, preferring to pay in two installments, leaving Real to snap him up later in the year for a reported 3.9m euros.
Asensio spent the first year after his transfer on loan at Espanyol. But he has made the most of the chances given since returning to Real at the start of last season and on Sunday became the first player in the club’s history to score in five of his competition debuts.
Asensio has struck on his La Liga, King’s Cup, Champions League, European Super Cup and Spanish Super Cup debuts for Real, also netting against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals and grabbing the final goal in Real’s 4-1 win over Juventus in the final. Asensio was limited to 11 La Liga starts last season, but is set for a far bigger role this year.
“When I saw his goal my jaw dropped,” said Real midfielder Dani Ceballos, a teammate of Asensio with Spain’s U21 side.
“What Marco keeps doing does not surprise me, I have known him for three years. He has the talent to keep doing what he’s doing in big games and against great teams.”
Coach Zinedine Zidane added: “Asensio is going to cause a real stir.”
Meanwhile, Barcelona were dealt another blow yesterday with the news that Luis Suarez will be out for around four weeks with a knee injury. – Reuters