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Real Madrid star Thibaut Courtois appeared critical of teammate Raúl Asencio, on the back of the club’s meeting with Pachuca.
This comes after the latter was shown a straight red card inside the opening 10 minutes of the clash.
Real Madrid were of course back in action on Sunday evening, locking horns with Mexican outfit Pachuca in a Club World Cup group stage fixture.
When all was said and done, Los Blancos managed a return to winning ways, ultimately emerging on the right side of a 3-1 result.
As alluded to above, though, as much was thrown into doubt early on, upon Raúl Asencio being sent for an early bath.
Owing to a last-man challenge, the 22-year-old left Xabi Alonso’s troops with just 10 men to see out over 80 minutes of action.
This came fast on the back of Asencio also conceding a penalty in Real Madrid’s CWC opener against Al-Hilal.
And as alluded to above, drawn on the situation post-match on Sunday, honest as ever was teammate Thibaut Courtois.
“Maybe the red card was a bit soft, but it’s the second straight game where a similar, small mistake has been made \[by Asencio\],” the Belgian concluded.
Courtois continued:
“We will keep fighting for Asencio, now win without him and keep winning when he’s back.”
Conor Laird – GSFN