Raúl Asencio has told Diario AS that his new head coach was correct to call him out over the drink-driving conviction that overshadowed his pre-season.
“Mourinho was completely right. I made a mistake, I admitted it and I still admit it.”
“I apologised and I will continue apologising.”
The 23-year-old Spaniard was stopped at a sobriety checkpoint on 16 August in Gran Canaria, where he returned breath-alcohol readings of 0.90 mg/l and 0.88 mg/l, more than three times the Spanish legal limit of 0.25 mg/l. In an expedited judgment to which he consented, Asencio was fined €14,400 and had his licence suspended for eight months.
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José Mourinho, who was appointed on a three-year contract in June and took charge on 13 July, opened internal disciplinary proceedings but kept the defender in his first-team plans while the matter ran its course.
‘I have to be aware of where I am’
Asencio told the Madrid daily that the shirt leaves no room for a second slip.
“I am a 23-year-old player and I have made mistakes, as anyone can at that age. But I have to be aware of where I am.”
“I’m at Real Madrid, and this cannot happen again. I fully accept the consequences.”
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Surgery and a visit from Mourinho
The interview also covered Asencio’s long-running injury problem. He underwent surgery for a stress fracture of the right tibia that he had been carrying since January, with the club confirming the operation in an official medical statement from Dr Manuel Leyes.
“It all started a year ago, and since January, the fissure had been holding up thanks to conservative treatment,” Asencio said.
“I was suffering, but I couldn’t stop because the team came first.”
Mourinho visited him in hospital shortly after the procedure, a gesture Asencio singled out when asked about his relationship with the coach.
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“Mourinho is close, humble and friendly. He is a wonderful person on a human level, as well as being a great coach.”
A warm word for Ancelotti
Asencio, who was promoted from Castilla and handed his senior opportunities under Carlo Ancelotti before the Italian left the club in the summer, also returned to the manager who first believed in him.
“Carlo Ancelotti? An excellent person. To me, he was much more than just a coach.”
Real Madrid’s medical services expect the defender to be sidelined for two to three months, which would push his first competitive appearance of the season into 2027.
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