Raul Asencio is back. The centre-back rejoined Real Madrid training on Thursday morning at Valdebebas, taking to the grass alongside the rest of the squad from the start of a closed-doors session and ending a lay-off that has run since the final days of July.
It was the penultimate piece of preparation before matchday five of LaLiga EA Sports, when Rayo Vallecano visit the Santiago Bernabeu, and per Mundo Deportivo the defender’s return was the headline development of the day. Jose Mourinho worked his players from 10:30 CEST at Ciudad Real Madrid, a day after the squad had been given Wednesday off to recover from the Champions League opener.
Raul Asencio back in Real Madrid training after six weeks out
Asencio has been sidelined since late July with a muscle injury to the rectus femoris in his right leg, picked up during pre-season. That timing cost him the entire build-up under a new manager and the opening month of the campaign, a significant chunk of the season for a defender who spent last term forcing his way into the reckoning.
His absence has been felt in the numbers, too. With Eder Militao still working his way back from hamstring surgery and Ferland Mendy out long term, Mourinho has been picking a back line assembled largely from summer arrivals. Dean Huijsen, Ibrahima Konate, Marc Cucurella, Denzel Dumfries, Antonio Rudiger and Alvaro Carreras have carried that load. Asencio’s fitness restores a homegrown option who knows the building.
A bruising few weeks off the pitch
The comeback arrives at the end of a difficult spell away from football. A week ago, Asencio was acquitted of an offence of revealing secrets in the case concerning the recording and distribution of a sexual video in 2023 involving other former Real Madrid academy players, after the two complainants confirmed they forgave the footballers. On 2 September, a separate ruling emerged over drink-driving in Gran Canaria on 16 August; the defender admitted the facts at a fast-track hearing and was fined 14,400 euros and given an eight-month driving ban, as we reported at the time.
Tchouameni, Endrick and Pitarch building rhythm
Asencio was not the only returning body in Thursday’s session. Aurelien Tchouameni, Endrick and Thiago Pitarch were all involved again, having rejoined group work last Sunday and earned places in the squad for the Inter Milan tie after completing two normal training days.
Only Tchouameni actually played, and only for ten minutes, coming on for Trent Alexander-Arnold, pressed into midfield duty by circumstance, in a game Madrid edged 2-1. Mourinho had been upfront in his pre-match press conference that the trio did not yet have the mileage in their legs to start, and the manager’s caution looks unlikely to vanish overnight.
Suspensions served, options restored
There was better news elsewhere on the grass. Eduardo Camavinga, Arda Guler and Bernardo Silva, all three unavailable for the Inter game through suspension, were back in Thursday’s session and are available for consideration again against Rayo. For a coach who spent the European night juggling a makeshift midfield, three senior names walking back through the door at once is no small thing.
One more training session remains before Mourinho names his squad. Whether Asencio is included after six weeks out is the manager’s call, and Los Blancos have shown no inclination to rush anyone back this season. But after a month in which the Bernabeu has made its impatience heard, more genuine choices is exactly what Real Madrid needed.
