Real Madrid unhappy with Spain manager Luis de la Fuente

Real Madrid have had many internationals away during the current break, with one of those being with Spain: Raul Asencio. However, the 21-year-old central defender did not have the best time with La Roja, as he missed out on making his senior debut in either of the two matches against The Netherlands.

Asencio was handed his first Spain call-up by de la Fuente on the back of impressive performances for Real Madrid over the last few months. However, he was not included in the matchday squad for last week’s UEFA Nations League quarter-final first leg against The Netherlands, with Robin Le Normand, Pau Cubarsi and Dean Huijsen selected as the centre-backs.

Cubarsi’s withdrawal from the squad after an ankle injury meant that Asencio was called upon for the return leg at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium, but in the end, he played zero minutes as de la Fuente relied upon Le Normand and Huijsen for the entirety of normal and extra time during Sunday’s match.

And this decision of de la Fuente has made Real Madrid officials very unhappy, as revealed by Sport. In particular, they feel that the justification used by the Spain head coach makes little sense, which was that it was deemed a risk to start with Asencio for such an important fixture, given that Los Blancos have relied upon him for even bigger matches this season.

Real Madrid would have loved to see Asencio make his Spain debut, as it would have provided an extra confidence boost for him ahead of the season run-in. Nevertheless, they have made it clear that they full confidence in his ability, and he will continue to be counted on for the remainder of the current campaign and beyond, although this is despite the fact that contract talks between the two parties have been stopped for the time being.