Asensio off to best ever start to a season



Having already scored six goals this season, Marco Asensio has started the 2016/17 campaign better than he had any other in his short-but-flourishing career.
With those half a dozen strikes, he has already equalled his previous best senior goalscoring tally, that of the 2013/14 campaign, when he was playing for Real Mallorca in Spain's second tier.
He is in the form of his life and is, amazingly, the joint top scorer - with Alvaro Morata - in the Real Madrid squad.
With goals in each of his Real Madrid LaLiga, Copa del Rey, Champions League and UEFA Super Cup debuts, the 20-year-old has been one of the highlights of the campaign so far and just one more goal will make this his best ever season in terms of goals.
After first bursting onto the scene with Mallorca, Asensio moved to the Spanish capital in the summer of 2015, only to be loaned out to Espanyol last season.
That was his first taste of top flight football and he finished the year in Catalunya with five goals to his name after 35 matches, while he also provided 13 assists.
Now, as a member of Zinedine Zidane's first team squad, he is in an excellent position to break double figures on the goalscoring charts.Marco Asensio has managed to score in more tournaments than most players can manage over the course of an entire career, but it is the nature rather than the number of the goals that should excite Madridistas.
The 20-year-old's brace in Real Madrid's 7-1 triumph at Cultural Leonesameant that that he has now scored for Los Blancos on his UEFA Super Cup, LaLiga, Champions League and Copa del Rey debuts, and is now the team's joint top scorer in all competitions this season.
As impressive as this record doubtlessly is, it shouldn't distract from the exceptional breadth of finishing that the former Mallorca man has displayed in only 10 games for the capital club.

Scores from here, there and everywhere

The goal with which Asensio introduced himself to Madridistas' collective consciousness came in the Super Cup final versus Sevilla. On that occasion, he picked up a loose ball with his back to goal before turning and launching a scud missile of a shot into the top corner.
A few days later, on his LaLiga debut away at Real Sociedad, the youngster deftly controlled an aerial ball before calmly chipping the onrushing goalkeeper.
The Palma-born player then turned his attention to his Champions League bow, opening his account versus Legia Warsaw by arriving late in the box and powerfully side-footing the ball into the back of the net.
On Wednesday, it was the turn of the Copa del Rey to witness the young prodigy's eye for goal. His first consisted of a simple finish, but one that was made possible by an intelligent first touch to set himself up on his favoured left foot.
Most goalscoring attacking midfielders tend to specialize in long-range bullets, and while the Spanish-Dutch wonderkid is certainly proficient in this department, he also brings other things to the table.
With such a widespread arsenal of goalscoring weapons in that left foot, it's clear that Real have on their hands a player who will solve many a game in the years to come.

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