Asensio: Lack of game-time is my fault, not Zidane's

Marco Asensio dismissed suggestions Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane was unfair for dropping him from the European champions' starting XI.

Asensio has established himself as one of Europe's most promising midfielders since joining Madrid from Mallorca in 2014.

After an impressive loan spell with Espanyol, Asensio became a regular in Madrid's squad last term and has seen his involvement further increased this season.

The 22-year-old was particularly impressive in the first half of the campaign and started nine La Liga games before Christmas, but he has appeared in the starting XI rather more sporadically since the turn of the year.

And when it was put to him that Zidane may have been a little unfair to him, Asensio was adamant the responsibility was all his own.

"That [unfair] is not the word," Asensio told El Larguero. "Because of issues, he chose others.

"It was my fault and my responsibility when I was out of the team. The dynamic of the team was not so good and I did not have so many minutes.

"I wanted to do everything in the 10 minutes I had. In those moments you have to be mentally strong.

"Now he is giving me confidence. I think that both in attack and in defence we are more compact and we have to continue like this and maintain this line. We are in a very good place."