What happened to Marco Asensio ?

Many believed the young Spanish winger to be the heir of Cristiano Ronaldo in Real Madrid. He has shown a lot of potential. Since his screamer against Sevilla in his debut match, he had raised high expectations. Both Florentino Perez and Zinedine Zidane have shown belief in the player. After Cristiano's surprise departure, everyone expected him to step up and carry the team.

Asensio had a great pre-season. He was also starting games for Los Blancos during the start of the season. He was creating chances in the final third and was putting decent crosses. He had also put up a stellar performance against Croatia in the UEFA Nations League.

In the 12 LaLiga matches in which he has played, he has only scored once and has managed to get only one assist. His decision making in the final third has also been very poor. This has lead to wastage of many chances to score goals for his teammates. He is not showing the confidence which he showed while scoring goals against teams like Juventus and Bayern in the Champions League.

He has lost his place in the starting XI. Out of the four games which Real Madrid has played with Santiago Solari as their head coach, he has started in only one. The game in which he started was a Copa Del Ray game against Melilla. He needs to do something to get into the playing XI.

Perhaps, the international break with Spain can help him. A similar performance like the one against Croatia could help him regain his confidence.

The fan favourite Marco Asensio, who has made a habit out of scoring golazos, needs to step up his game and help get Real Madrid to get out of crisis. He needs to take advantage of his limitless potential as the competition to become Real Madrid's main man is tougher than ever. With Benzema scoring for fun, Bale finally delivering, Isco being Isco, Vazquez playing regularly and even Vinicius impressing everyone, it's time for Asensio to do something extraordinary and remind everyone that he still belongs on the big stage.