Spain 'blessed' to have Asensio, says Celades

Marco Asensio starred at the European Under-21 championship and Spain coach Albert Celades considers himself lucky.

Spain are blessed to have Real Madrid star Marco Asensio at the European Under-21 championship, coach Albert Celades said. Asensio, 21, starred in a 5-0 win over Macedonia on Saturday, scoring a brilliant hat-trick to lead his team to a resounding victory. Celades was full of praise for the Madrid man afterwards, saying he was lucky to have Asensio at his disposal. "Congratulations to Marco for his hat-trick and his effort and the commitment with which he played," he said, via UEFA. "He is an example to all of us as a player who's come from the senior national team, and from the Champions League, and who's played with the motivation he has shown. "We're blessed to have a lad with his quality, as a footballer and a person." Saul Niguez and Gerard Deulofeu were also on the scoresheet in Spain's Group B win. Asensio preferred to immediately turn his attentions to his side's next clash – a meeting with Portugal on Tuesday. "Football is about scoring goals, but this game is finished and now we have to be focused on Portugal," he told UEFA.com. "I scored three goals and I helped my team. I'm very happy with this win. The win is important, but also the number of goals. "We scored five and that's important if we want to reach the semi-finals."