BREAKING: When Real Madrid plays PSG, their poorest player returns to factory settings.

Real Madrid suffered an agonising defeat at the hands of PSG. This kind of performance has crept into the Xabi Alonso era, which is what we as fans grew accustomed to under Carlo Ancelotti. Let me be clear: he is not to blame for this outcome. Anyone else than him is to blame. Everything he accomplished was done correctly. Alonso made the appropriate lineup. The participants were to blame. One of the main causes of the loss was their inability to adjust to what Alonso desired to do.

Let’s examine it in more detail. In reality, who was at fault? Did Thibaut Courtois give it his all on the pitch, save a lot more shots than he allowed? Or was it Kylian Mbappe, who is receiving a lot of flak despite being the team’s sole offensive threat? No. I don’t like to call attention to certain specific players, but I feel compelled to. Raul Asencio was one of them. What’s happening to Raul Asencio? For Real Madrid, Asencio had an outstanding season in both La Liga and the Champions League. Both on the big stage and against the smaller clubs, he was by far their finest defender.

But, since the start of the Club World Cup, he has been a shell of himself. Actually, I think a shell of Asencio would perform better than what he is right now. It is tough to pinpoint the actual reason for it. It could well be the heat, it could be so much more than that, though.

The first goal that Real Madrid conceded was all because of Asencio’s inability to clear the ball. It was not like he did not have time. He had so much of it, and I think he thought he had even more of it.

It could just be that Asencio hit factory settings on his development. Before he joined Real Madrid’s first team, he was one of the worst players for a struggling Castilla side. He was making rash decisions, rash tackles and trying his best to get into the opponents’ heads without much to go his way.

This version of Asencio that we are seeing at the Club World Cup is much closer to that than anything we saw earlier this season. I mean, what happened? Asencio was huge for Real Madrid, even in the losses.

Real Madrid were better off having him on the pitch, but now, it seems like every time he starts, a calamity is waiting to happen.

He has lost his place in the starting XI, and if he keeps getting worse, he will lose his place in the team, as well.