He scored, then he limped off
Fenerbahce’s third goal against Konyaspor on Saturday night came from Marco Asensio. Just after the hour, he was off the pitch. Nobody was resting him.
Turkish outlets put a number on it Sunday morning: seven to 10 days out. Fenerbahce won the match 4-2 and still walked away worse off than they went in.
The Spain international will not travel to Lyon for the second leg of the Champions League play-off.
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Ten days that swallow the biggest match of Fenerbahce’s season
Count forward from Saturday and the injury window closes right on top of the fixture the club has been building towards all month. This play-off splits two very different futures. League phase football in the Champions League on one side, the consolation route on the other. The gap between them runs into tens of millions of euros.
Fenerbahce head to the Groupama Stadium without the player they signed for exactly these nights, the one who breaks open a stubborn game with a single touch. He had just proved the point against Konyaspor.
Lyon inherit an advantage they did nothing to earn
OL will take it. Home tie, and one of Fenerbahce’s genuine match-winners staying behind in Istanbul.
Asensio arrived in Turkey with a CV that most of the Super Lig cannot come close to matching. Real Madrid, then Paris Saint-Germain. Champions League winners’ medals, finals, hundreds of European minutes in games decided by one moment of composure. Fenerbahce paid for that experience specifically.
He watches this one.
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