La Liga 16/17: 5 things we learnt from Matchday 1
Football finally got underway in Spain last weekend and fans were treated to some amazing La Liga action on Matchday 1. Barcelona and Real Madrid both secured comfortable victories while Atletico Madrid were held to a draw against newly promoted side Alaves.
Elsewhere, Valencia and Sevilla enjoyed contrasting starts to their campaign while Villarreal started off with a hard-fought draw. Although it has been just one match, there were quite a few things we learnt from Matchday 1 of La Liga:
#1 Marco Asensio is the future of Real Madrid
The Real Madrid youngster has captured everyone’s imagination with his performances in the last few matches and he lived upto his growing reputation once again when he scored Madrid’s second goal with a sublime chip in their 3-0 victory against Sociedad.
Rafael Nadal convinced president Florentino Perez to sign the young Spaniard, and if the first few impressions are anything to go by, Madrid must not waste any time in signing Nadal up as a scout. Asensio is blessed with good pace, close control and dribbling skills and is also capable of scoring spectacular goals as he displayed in the UEFA Super Cup and in his La Liga debut against Sociedad.
"I have to make the decisions and I decided Asensio should start and he did well, as did Isco and James," said Zidane after the match, who admitted deciding on his starting 11 had given him "a headache". Not afraid of taking on defenders and capable of creating something out of nothing, it is fair to say that Asensio is currently ahead of more established stars like James and Isco in the pecking order.