In Cristiano Ronaldo's absence, Marco Asensio single-handedly dragged Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw against Valencia.The 21-year-old Spanish international was recently the star man in Madrid's two-legged Spanish Super Cup demolition of Barcelona.Asensio scored two incredible goals against their Catalan rivals and has carried that excellent form into the La Liga 17/18 campaign.Ronaldo received a five match suspension for shoving a referee but - despite Madrid's failure to beat Valencia - Asensio is thriving as the key attacking threat.He has an amazing knack of scoring long-range wondergoals and he notched two more in the thrilling 2-2 draw on Sunday night.Formerly of Real Mallorca, Barcelona passed up the opportunity to sign Asensio after refusing to cough up an extra €2m.Asensio only started 11 La Liga matches last season but Zinedine Zidane can surely hold back this talent no longer.Competing for a starting berth, the Los Blancos club record signing Gareth Bale may end up being the fall guy.

Bale, subbed off during their late search for a goal, and Karim Benzema were both treated to whistles by the fans in the first match of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu.

"I'm happy with his display and am not surprised by all that he does," said Zidane. "He scored two goals and I'm happy with him, but it was a good job on a collective level. I don't like to single players out and I prefer to speak of what the whole team did."

"When he plays all the Madridistas in the stadium love it, he is a smashing young lad. I'm happy with his progress, nobody is really surprised by him, and it shows that Real Madrid were right to bring him into the fold."

"I hope Asensio keeps going like this, but it does not affect Gareth," said Zidane. "Gareth had his chances to score today, it didn't happen. But this is football, I cannot reproach my players, just the opposite.

"I am very happy with the game they played. In La Liga it is very long, we will drop points other times too. We were up against a team who were very well organised, made it difficult for us. There were two good teams on the pitch today."

Watch Marco Asensio's brilliant individual highlights against Valencia via the YouTube video below.