After the Copa del Rey disastrous match last week, a lot of tension was expected at the Bernabéu for Álvaro Arbeloa's LaLiga debut against Levante. The atmosphere at the Madrid football temple was even worse than expected. The fans loudly booed the players from the warm up until half time. In particular, Vinícius, Bellingham and Valverde were booed every single time they touched the ball. Crazy! At the end of the disappointing first half, you could hear all the fans booing even louder. I've never heard such a protest.

From the tactical point of view, Arbeloa's choices were questionable, in particular regarding Gonzalo's position as a winger. In the first 45 minutes no shots on goal and, even more worrying, the players looked confused on the pitch. The only one who put some offensive effort was Mbappé. And it was him who got fouled and scored the consequent penalty at minute 58. Almost ten minutes later, Asencio scored the second goal. An invaluable win!

Matchday 20: Focus on Raúl Asencio

Raúl Asencio started as centre back alongside Huijsen and played a very solid match. I can recall just one little mistake in the first half. He passed and followed, helped circulate the ball, recovered many balls, crossed a couple of times. He's the current leader of Real's backline.

In the second half Arda Güler and Mastantuono were subbed on, with them Real played with more intensity and pace and Asencio attacked space on every single free kick and corner kick. Despite wearing a protective mask for his broken nose, at minute 64 he jumped fearless and scored a cabezazo on a corner kick by Güler. Defensively, he played mostly as right back and then again as centre back when Huijsen was subbed off. Asencio left the pitch at minute 90 and all the fans at the Bernabéu applauded him with enthusiasm. A well deserved standing ovation!

The fans are questioning Real Madrid's stars, who now must show effort, care and above all (in my honest opinion), humbleness. Youngsters like Asencio, Gonzalo, and also Arda Güler (who really changed the pace of the match) are the most reliable players for Arbeloa right now.

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Did you watch the match? Which player impressed you the most? Hit reply and let me know!

See you next Tuesday!

Marta