"Mou was right. Completely right." That's Raúl Asencio on his drink-driving fine this summer — no deflection, no PR gloss. Just a 23-year-old defender who knows exactly where he is and what's at stake.
The interview, published by AS, is the most candid Asencio has ever been publicly. It covers everything: tibia surgery, José Mourinho's character behind closed doors, the hostile chants he faced in away stadiums, and the charity work he does quietly with seriously ill children. For a player who has spent most of his career deliberately avoiding attention, it's a significant moment.
Surgery, Mourinho, and a hospital visit that mattered
Asencio underwent tibia surgery just days before sitting down for this conversation. The crack had been managed conservatively since January, but the pain worsened and the fracture eventually left him with no choice. He'll be on crutches for the foreseeable future, his family having flown over from Gran Canaria to help him manage.
The image that circulated of Mourinho visiting him in hospital immediately post-operation clearly meant something. "Having Mou come see me and show the same warmth he's shown all season was incredibly comforting," Asencio said. He describes the manager as approachable, funny, humble — someone who is genuinely embedded in the group rather than hovering above it. "He's just another member of the locker room."
That picture of Mourinho sits against the more complicated one from this summer, when Asencio was handed a heavy fine for drink-driving. He doesn't try to soften it. "I'm at Real Madrid, and something like that cannot happen again." Mourinho publicly criticised him at the time. Asencio says the criticism was deserved.
A Gran Canaria kid carrying Carvajal's number
He moved to Madrid's academy at 14, leaving Gran Canaria alone, learning to deal with illness and setbacks without his family nearby. Álvaro Carreras arrived around the same time from Galicia — both of them far from home, turning teammates into substitutes for family. It shaped him. By the time he made his first-team debut against Osasuna at the Bernabéu — providing an assist for Bellingham — he says he stepped onto the pitch without fear.
This season he's wearing No. 2. Dani Carvajal's number. He messaged Carvajal before accepting it, joking that he hoped he wouldn't damage the shirt's reputation. It wasn't really a joke. Carvajal's influence on academy players runs deep — the work ethic, the accountability, the willingness to pull younger players aside when needed.
Of the current squad, only Asencio, Carreras, and Thiago Pitarch are homegrown. He thinks more will follow, pointing to an under-19 side that won everything last season. Whether the club's transfer strategy makes space for them is a different question entirely.
On Mbappé and the Ballon d'Or, he's clear: "For me he's the best player among all the nominees. The best goalscorer across the board." On Vinícius: "Footballers aren't robots. He'll be back because we see what he does every day in training." On the season's underwhelming start: "Words disappear; performances remain." Madrid's odds of closing the gap on their rivals this season depend heavily on which version of these players shows up — and on Asencio himself returning to fitness.
He'll be out for months. That's a blow for a Real Madrid side that has leaned on him more than expected. His absence weakens the defensive depth at a club already navigating a season that hasn't gone to plan. Whether Mourinho's squad can arrest the slide without him is the real question hanging over this interview.
