Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho have to be very good, very quickly because Barcelona are in trouble

Andy West

08:28 17/08/2017

Real Madrid shrugged off the absence of the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo to cruise past rivals Barcelona 2-0 in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup to cap a 5-1 aggregate win.

Here, are our three things learned from the first Clasico clash of the season.

BARCELONA ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE

Ernesto Valverde’s decision to experiment with a 3-5-2 formation – something previously unseen in pre-season and a shape he has hardly ever employed at his other clubs – was a clear admission that the new coach does not yet know what to do with his team.

The new playing system did not work at all. From the opening minutes, Madrid were able to find space to launch their attacks with alarming ease, while Barca desperately struggled to maintain possession for more than a few passes.

There was precious little link play between defence, midfield and attack, with Lionel Messi close to anonymous and Luis Suarez resembling an enraged pitbull as he charged around with no hope of receiving decent service around the penalty area.

The need for reinforcements is glaringly obvious but even if leading targets Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho are eventually secured, they will need to be very good, very quickly.

MADRID ARE ON TOP OF THE WORLD

Conversely, Real Madrid’s performance from the opening whistle was superb – even though Zinedine Zidane had afforded himself the luxury of being without three of his most influential players: Casemiro, Isco and the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo.

The depth of talent available to the French coach was again evident in the dynamic and diligent midfield performance of Mateo Kovacic, while Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio, who will surely not be regarded as an understudy for much longer, provided constant threat down the flanks.

Zidane changed his team’s formation from 4-4-2 back to his previously trusted 4-3-3 but it made no difference to a Madrid side which is oozing confidence and quality all over the pitch.

The passage of play leading up to the second goal, converted by Karim Benzema, was particularly impressive as the whole team got involved in flicks and tricks, and the Bernabeu crowd – with good reason – lapped it up. Los Blancos are on fire.

Zidane congratulates Benzema

ASENSIO’S TIME IS NOW

Even before this second leg fixture, Marco Asensio was being hailed by many Real Madrid fans as a superstar who should be given much more playing time – largely at the expense of Gareth Bale.

Five minutes after kick-off, Asensio made sure that message was impossible to avoid with a simply sumptuous opening goal, stroked into the roof of the net from nearly 30 yards with the ease of a man flicking the channel on his TV remote.

That spectacular moment sent a question loud and clear to Zinedine Zidane: can you really leave this man out of your team?

And the fact that it was by no means his first significant contribution – coming on the back of a similarly brilliant strike in the first leg and a goal in the Champions League final – leaves little doubt that we should stop regarding Asensio as ‘one for the future’.

He is one for right now.