Real Madrid must fire Raúl Asencio for his crimes
By Imani Sutton · Reporting from Atlanta ·
The math of elite impunity is simple: if the fine is lower than the cost of the mistake, the law isn't a deterrent; it’s a service fee.
The math of elite impunity is simple: if the fine is lower than the cost of the mistake, the law is a service fee. Raúl Asencio, a defender for Real Madrid, recently paid a fee for nearly killing someone on a highway in Gran Canaria.
The Price of a Porsche
At 6:30 AM on August 16, police stopped Asencio at a traffic checkpoint in San Bartolomé de Tirajana. Anadolu Agency reported that Asencio drove a Porsche Macan GTS with a breathalyzer reading of 0.90 mg/l—nearly four times the legal limit. The court ordered a 14,400-euro fine and an eight-month license suspension.
For a professional athlete at one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, 14,400 euros represents a few hours of wages. The sum barely registers on a monthly paycheck. When the penalty for endangering the public is a fee that doesn't dent a player's bank account, the legal system is simply selling a permit to the privileged to break the law.
Who Pays the Real Price?
The DUI is a distraction. Two women—one a teenager—carry the actual burden after Asencio leaked a private sexual recording to a group chat. Asencio now faces a trial in Las Palmas for sharing secrets and distributing videos of a minor, stemming from a June 2023 incident at a beach club.
While co-defendants Ferrán Ruiz and Juan Rodríguez Lima allegedly filmed the act, prosecutors accuse Asencio of spreading the footage. El País reported that the prosecution seeks roughly two and a half years in prison. However, the state signaled it might drop the charges if Asencio apologizes during the trial.
The defense will argue that Asencio did not film the act and acted only as a passive participant in a digital exchange. They will claim a simple apology fixes a mistake. This is the strongest version of his case: that the distributor is less culpable than the creator. But in the digital age, forwarding the link is the crime. The harm lies in the multiplication of the violation. An apology cannot un-share a video of a 16-year-old.
The Club Protects the Asset
This mirrors Tiger Woods's 2006 car crash. That accident was more than a vehicle hitting a tree; it was the collision of a polished brand and the messy reality of the man behind it. The car stripped away the curated perfection to reveal the rot.
Asencio is in the same collision. Real Madrid is currently reviewing its internal rulebook, treating the situation as a PR hurdle or an HR problem. The club is waiting to see if the apology works before deciding if Asencio is a liability. They are treating a crime against a child as a branding exercise.
The historical pattern persists: the club protects the asset until the asset becomes toxic. But the burden here is not a torn ligament or a muscle strain; it is the trauma of the victims. Real Madrid should not be studying regulations; they should be terminating a contract. Any club that accepts a "sorry" as a substitute for a prison sentence in a child pornography case is simply paying for the privilege of looking the other way.